Final Cut - Underground

Evaluation Question 2

How does you media product represent particular social groups?

Scream King from Undeground

There are only 2 characters revealed in our film opening the killer and the Scream King.
Each character represents different social group; the scream king represents the younger generation and has been dressed up and made to act like how an older generation would think of us or stereotype us as "thugs". 


The killer is made to look like a sinister being and has similarities with other killers such as the killer in the horror film series "Scream", Ghostface. Our killer wears similar clothes such as dark clothing with a hood, although our killer wears a hoodie and dark jeans. Both killers also wear dark boots. 

An image of the killer in Scream "Ghostface"

Here is a podcast which further evaluates the question above:

Evaluation Question 1

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

FlashPoint Pictures Company Ident

Like with the majority of films, our film also starts with our company idents, these are used to advertise the company that produce and distribute the films. Similarly we overlay film titles throughout the opening of the film which buffer the point more of who made the film. Our film titles are a white font which makes them stand out.


Instead of a scream queen in our film we have opted to develop conventions and go for a Scream King instead,  the scream king still has many aspects that the scream queen still has though. Such as typical blonde hair and going against the moral code. 


Location is very important in our film as well, we had researched a multitude of films previously for research on how to make the best film opening possible, we had looked at Saw and Wolf Creek in particular. we found wolf creek to be set like most horror films in a rural area which is what we chose for our outdoor scene, which is a snowy and enclosed alley. 


We further developed our camera angles to make our scream queen look weak, at the start of the film we used medium shots but when he was taken hostage we used high angled shots to make him look weak and vulnerable which is a common aspect of horror films.


To watch a full evaluation of the question above watch the video below:

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?


The audience for our horror film would be the younger generation. The range we would be looking at is the 18-35 year old range, of course we want to appeal to all audiences but mainly to that age range as they are the people who watch horror films.

As well as the age range the majority of males watch horror films and from watching, analysing and discussing thn within our group we know what we like about them and that is action, which is why we tried to make it fast paced when editing and not leave boring scenes in the film opening where nothing is happening.

Age range certificate placed on DVD covers

Another reason we are appealing to that age range and not a younger one is because of the BBFC rating out film would receive, after comparing our film to similar films such as Wolf Creek and Saw which we compared it to in our treatment, an then to an extent Scream. All have be given an 18 rating certificate, which is why we decided to give this to ours aswell.

Evaluation Question 3

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

Universal Studios Logo

A massive thing to think about when looking for a distribution company to distribute your product is the budget you have been working on. We have been working on a very low  budget project with no known stars in. It would be crazy to think a major company in the film industry such as Universal Studios would distribute our film as it's a massive risk for them.

From research we have found American companies such as Universal Studios are less likely to take the risk of spending money on a low budget film even though they can afford to do it.

Working Title (or Working Title Films) would be a lot more likely option, although it seems to have gone away from the ideals that it started on of using young and inexperienced actors and now also has a very high budget to use per film, spending up to £100m.


We then did more research into film distribuation companies that we may use if we produced a feature length film. As we had in our treatment I looked the film Wolf Creek. Wolf Creek had been produced on a small budget of $1m, which may be similar to ours, if ours was a feature length film. From there we found out that the distribution company for that film was Optimum Releasing, now known as Studio Canal UK since being renamed in 2006. Studio Canal UK is a subsidiary of Studio Canal a foreign based distribution company.

After finding that out we continued our search for a British indie distribution company, knowing from research that they are more likely to take risks and work with lower budgets. We then found a company called Vertigo Films which produces and distributes British films.
"Vertigo Films is a UK Media company founded in 2002 to create and distribute commercially driven independent cinema.Vertigo Films is a UK Media company founded in 2002 to create and distribute commercially driven independent cinema." Quote Vertigo Films

Evaluation Question 6

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


I've learnt so much about different technologies and also learnt more about technologies that I previously know. I've learnt how to use Final Cut to successfully edit a product to a certain person's taste such as a young person would want a fast paced edit to keep them entertained whereas an older person may like it slower.


iMovie: iMovie was the first real editing product that I had ever used. It was very simple to use and didn't take long to get used to as there were only transitions, sound effects and general editing software located on the program, it was very effective for us using it first time as we were just practising our shots (very helpful and quick to use when editing our preliminary task or first versions of our rough cuts). We also used iMovie to upload our footage to even when we later used final cut, from there we could just drag and drop it into Final Cut and it would be ready for us to edit. I learnt the basics to editing using this program and although simple to use at first I could produce something of higher quality on it now than I could of done 5 months ago.


Final Cut: Final Cut is a very complicated bit of software to use. At first I was finding it very difficult to even cut up clips as it was a lot more compact than iMovie. As I started to get used to using Final Cut it became ever so more apparent of why professional film makers use it to edit with. As we started editing rough cuts I got more comfortable using the program and the effects, transitions that came along with it. I was amazed at how I could use multiple layering effectively to build up fast paced editing when in a frantic situation such as a killing.


Cinema 4D: I was comfortable using Cinema 4D before I came onto doing this project, this is one of the reasons I chose to make a company ident using it. Although before I came onto the course I had previously made only one animation which hadn't gone so well, I had just used it for creating 3D text. This made it a lot harder, throughout the start of the project (since around the first rough cut) I had been experimenting using different animations and looking at tutorials for guidance. From using this product I got a stronger knowledge of how key frames work and how effects can make your product look more realistic (such as ambient occlusion to make your items reflect of off eachother).

Youtube: Youtube turned out to be a great resource for not only uploading and gaining feedback of the audience, I used Youtube to find out about different films that had been previously released or that are soon going to be released via trailers. I also found out more information about programs by looking up tutorials on Final Cut. Youtube allowed me to give myself feedback and not get repetitive feedback by adding annotations, this is what made me use it instead of using another file sharing website such as Vimeo.

Blogger: Blogger allowed me to update my audience on what I had been doing previously and what I was doing and going to do in the future by posting blogs. It allowed em to gain feedback and also keep a notice of what I needed to do in the future. From the start I was only using blogger to post my experiences so far, then I learnt how to use link lists. I used these to make sure my podcasts and analysis of films weren't missed by being pushed lower down. I also used link lists to advertise the Top 5 Current Horror Films according to The Guarian newspaper which updated weekly, this redirected you to the website once you clicked the link. As well as that I was able to activate a poll on a topic that I may of needed help on or what I found interesting.

Divshare: I used Divshare to upload my podcasts to this was very easy and reliable as I had to only register an account and it would save whatever I had uploaded just incase I had lost it, although the first time I struggled to find where the embed code was through the year it was very easy to use.

Scrib: Scribd is a very useful tool, it helped a lot when trying to upload powerpoints and word documents as Blogger itself didn't have tools to do that, what we'd need was to create an account and simply upload the file, from there we were able to copy the embed code and paste it in.

For a more detailed description of the technologies i've talked about please watch the video:

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?


We had a massive advantage than the directors of the 20th century in advertising our film opening. We had a variety of ways in which we were able to attract our audience. The main audience we wanted to aim our product at was teenagers, after doing research on various horror films we found that most horror films were aimed at teenagers or young adults (primarily at 18-24 year olds).

Due to the supposed amount of gore our film featured we knew it had a target as hit films such as Saw and Wolf Creek both featured mass amounts of blood and torture. At the start of the Saw films there's always a trap and a murder, which grips the audience from the beginning, we tried this similarly in our film opening.

We used social networking sites to advertise our products to a wider range of people knowing that anyone around the world could be able to see it. The social networking site we used was Twitter (@ConspiracyProds). To save time and to get immediate feedback we asked students in our class, who were the same age as us (16, 17 and 18) to give us any feedback that they felt necessary.

Males are predominantly the sex which watch the majority of slasher films as they contain a lot of violence and gore, so we knew if we had a male main character the audience may try to relate to being them which would keep them more interested in the film.

Our main character Will, in clothing. Hoodie, Jeans
and Trainers

Clothing is very important in slasher films and it is important in our slasher film. The main character wears a hoodie and a pair of jeans which is what a typical teen would wear, so you can almost identify straight away what sort of age the character is. Hoodie's are thought of badly by the older generations, they assume everyone who wears one is a yob or a thug and they should be avoided which is why it's the perfect outfit. As were already going against the typical conventions of a horror film as having a male as the scream queen. The seemly yob or thug is actually a weak person (shown by him getting kidnapped). To attract a female audience we also needed to cast a good looking male character, we thought the perfect person for this would be Will as he has blonde hair which goes with the scream queen look.

We knew by casting teens in our slasher film it would also bring in an audience, although you only see 2 characters (and ones identity) it still attracts people of the same age to watch the film. This was the same for the slasher series Scream; which is set around a group of high school kids being murdered 1 by 1.

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?


As a group and individually we have all improved over the project, especially since doing the preliminary task. Looking back at the preliminary task you can spot easy mistakes that you would notice in your first take now. Back when we started the preliminary task we only knew basic shots and didn't experiment, we used a long shot, a medium shot and a medium close up. There was also no variation in the shots they just came on and stayed there for a long time. We also never used a tripod while filming, which made it very shaky, a very amateur mistake we see now.

An example of what shaky footage
could look like.

We have improved all over since we first filmed the preliminary task, the only thing that we knew was the 180° rule. As I said before, the camera is awfully shaky during the filming of our preliminary task, now when we go to film we use the tripod for almost every shot just to make sure it doesn't shake, as we have no idea if the shot is shaky until we get back to the classroom to edit, this loses us massive amounts of time which we found out in our first rough cut. 


Our shot selection has improved massively since we first started, from our first rough cut to our almost final cut you can see a lot of changed shots even though the location has stayed the same throughout. Previously we had discussed using a shot through a wall which had holes in it to let air pass through, we set up a camera in the other room as an experiment, and used different light levels to see if we could pick anything up. To our surprise we were able to see a man walking past fully which we are now using. We now know why we should use camera angles, an example of this is in our final cut, we have used Final Cut to create a CCTV type footage effect and used a very high angled shot to detail this, it makes the victim look weak. 

A camera, similar to one
we film with

The mis-en-scene we chose for our preliminary task looking back was a terrible place. It made it very difficult to film as bars were placed from the ceiling into the floor. This made it difficult to get any longshots of the pair sitting at the table, causing us to only use medium and close up shots. In our recent rough cuts we have learnt to use selective filming, to film only the parts of the location that we want. This is key to our horror film as the location we filmed was a busy street, and horror film locations are notorious for being rural. 


Another problem we faced in not only the preliminary task but also on the first rough cut was keeping the camera in focus, we found this difficult in several places such as the outside scenes as the light would ruin the shot that we would try to gather.

Our Mis-en-Scene

With feedback from past rough cuts we knew we had to create a realistic looking mis-en-scene. As our film was set in a old dusty basement we thought of several items that would be good as well as different items that we recieved from feedback. We thought dust would be a good idea but it would barely show up on the Mini DV Cameras that we were using to film. We instead got gravel, dirty and leaves from outside the house which were inspired by our teacher's feedback. We also had an idea of smashing a glass bottle to get glass spread across the floor which we did. These are some images that we took while on set at a previous rough cut:

Our BBFC Film Rating

After researching various other films that are similar to ours after post production and the majority of editing done, we have deciding to find out what our BBFC rating would be if our film was to be released. After I had researched various films were similar to our own such as Wolf Creek and Saw. Wolf Creek and Saw both feature high levels of gore from the beginning of the film, our film opening is the same.

18 Rating Certificate Logo

"where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals. This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised violence which might, for example, eroticise or endorse sexual assault" Quote from BBFC

This is one guideline set by the BBFC when they last updated the age ratings, which was in 2009. Our film portrays detailed and high levels of violence from the start, an example of this is when the main character is abducted and murdered while being tied to a pole by chains.

The main character is also drinking alcohol which is illegal to anyone under the age of 18 which is another of the requirements for an 18 age rated film.

Key Films in the Horror Genre

1960- Psycho was released. Now known as the first real horror film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock who is now seen as an auteur. Psycho is famous for it's frantic shower scene where it features 78 shots in less than a minute.
It is known the the screeching sound track played on top of the killing. The film is also renowned for killing off it's main star Janet Leigh a third of the way into the film.
"The combination of the close shots with their short duration makes the sequence feel more subjective than it would have been if the images were presented alone or in a wider angle " Wikipedia
The budget for Psycho was an estimated $800,000 and has grossed more than $50,000,000 worldwide.


1978- Halloween was released in this year, or also known as John Carpenter's Halloween. The story of a psychotic child murderer who had been kept in prison since childhood after murdering his sister. The film was a massive hit and one of the most, if not most known horror film ever. It was made on a budget of $320,000 and grossed more than $60,000,000 worldwide. The film is also famous for Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of Janet Leigh who was the scream queen in Psycho, being featured as the scream queen in this film. John Carpenter was not only the director for this film but also a editor and sound producer.




1980- Friday the 13th is an American horror franchise that comprises twelve slasher films. The first film directed by Sean S. Cunningham. The film is based around murders which happen at a camp at summertime.  It starts as two counselors at Camp Crystal Lake are murdered by an unseen assailant after they sneak away to a cabin to have sex. Set on a budget of $550,000 it grossed just under $40,000,000 in the USA alone.

Rough Cut/ Final Cut Editing

Over the last week Me, Andy and Will have been spending all our time editing our latest rough cut/final cut for our opening of "Underground". Today we have managed to finish all the editing for the opening and will be uploading it for feedback soon. The only things we need to add are titles then we need to create a soundtrack to go along with the visuals.

WL - Audience for Slasher Film

The typical audience for most slasher films we have researched has been an audience of 15-24 years old. This is normally the case due to the content of the slasher genre and also to do with the actors that are often teens/young adults cast in these films. However often slasher films will be part of a hybrid genre to bring more people into the film for example 'Jason X' The sci-fi slasher film the 10th in the Friday the 13th series. Female audiences may be also drawn in due to romantic content and the final girl character who is of herioc and ends up defeting the killer at the end of the film. However this is combated my the scream queen character who is often killed of near the start and to some can be seen as misoganistic. Another tactic at drawing in an older audience to slasher films is labelling it as a 'psychological thriller' Which will bring in a older audience even if the film is really following many of the slasher conventions. In conclusion the slasher genre can spread over a large audience mainly depending on marketing and the characters involved.

"Conspiracy Productions" Finished Ident

This is the finished ident for Conspiracy Productions. created by Will and Sean of Conspiracy Productions. We created this ident using two programs: Cinema 4d and Sony Vegas. For the 3d text, lowering of text and main structure of the ident we used Cinema 4d. After creating the animation of the text lowering and zooming in I extracted this and sent it to Will who imported it into Sony Vegas. From their Will added the ice particle effect flying upwards as well as a reflected light above the text. He also used sound effects to create a lowering noise.

Finished Company Ident "FlashPoint Pictures"

This is my finished ident for my production company "FlashPoint Pictures". I initially made the ident using the program Cinema 4D created by Maxon. From there I used a free plugin called thrausi to create the shattering effect. To make the visuals look more realistic I applied effects such as ambient occlusion this particular effect makes the letters reflect off each other. I then extracted this ident and imported it onto iMovie. On iMovie I used sounds on there to create a transforming sound effect, this goes well with the ident as when the text on top shatters it shows the next layer of text.

Prelim Task. Conspiracy Productions.

AK - Treatment

Treatment for Underground

Editing Rough Cut/ Final Cut

Me and Andy have spent the last 2 lunch times cutting up our clips of when we filmed last week. We have gathered all the clips we need to-to make the full opening. We have over 1 hours worth of film to use and cut up as well as included in that are vlogs of what we were doing on set.

Company Ident Update

After finishing my part of the company ident I have uploaded it to a file sharing website (Mediafire) for Will to add sounds to as well as any effects that deem appropiate. For the ident so far I have again used the program Cinema 4D (which I used for my own ident). I did at first as having the intention to create a 3D knife but this was unfortunately too difficult and didn't look too great once made. In the end I just had text dropping onto a canvas then bouncing up, it then zooms in quickly.

Evaluation Questions 4, 5, 6,7 ~ DRAFTS

Evaluation Question 4-

• The main audience we would target our media product at would be 18-24 year olds.
• A reason for that is that the main characters in our film are teenagers.
• As well as that teenagers or young adults feature in most horror films.
• Our horror film will be fast paced which will suit a younger audience who enjoy faster flowing films.

Evaluation Question 5-

• The main aspect that would attract people to our film is the genre which is horror, people are more likely to watch it if they enjoy horror films than if they don't.
• We also attracted our audience by using social network sites such as twitter, where we updated people on what was currently happening in the production of our film opening and how it was going stage by stage.
• We uploaded several rough cuts for feedback on the film which would attract an audience as they may enjoy certain scenes which we had uploaded and could change the ones that they didn't think fitted so well.
• We researched existing films and why they had become such a hit, an example of this was Scream. It was set in a high school and teenagers were the main stars of the film, which attracted teenagers to watching the film.

Evaluation Question 6-

• iMovie
• Basic editing skills.  
• How to use transitions effectively
• Applying Sound
• Uploading and cutting footage.
• Cinema 4D
• 3D imaging
• Animation
• Applying effects to make it look more realistic.
• Final Cut
• Complex editing software
• Working with multiple layers
• Colour correction
• Fast paced editting
• Mini DV Cameras
• Used Tripods to keep a steady shot
• Using different angles to create an atmosphere

Evaluation Questing 7-

• We only knew basic filming skills
• Learnt 180degree rule
• Used filming techniques to cut out things that looked bad in the frame (Selective filming)
• Developed shot variety.
• Know when and how to use certain shots (To make a person look weak use high angled shot)

Evaluation Question 1, 2, 3 ~ DRAFTS

Evaluation Question 1-

• Challenges conventions as Will is played as a "Scream King" instead of a "Scream Queen"
• Male character played as woman character.
• Develops conventions as we use alcohol, this goes against moral code
• Most males in horror films are jocks, you don't find out the identity of the character but he isn't that tall suggesting he isn't a jock.

Evaluation Question 2 -

• Teenagers are seen as thugs according to older generations and this is shown in ours. The Scream King has been drinking which goes against moral code.
• To make sure our cast were seen as teenagers we chose for our main character, Will, to wear jeans and a hoodie. These are seen as typical bits of clothing for teenagers and hoodies give the impression of a yob to the general public as you cannot see there face. 

Evaluation Questing 3- 

• We wouldn't be going to a large distribution company such as Universal.
• We would go to an Indie distribution company.
• The company we would use would be British as were British film makers.
• Optimum releasing distributed "Wolf Creek" which is a similar film to ours, it would also have a similar budget if our film was a full feature film as their budget was $1m.
• We could also use the distribution company "Virtigo" which is a British Indie distribution company. 

WL - Slasher Film Budgets, Box Office and Distribution.

Slasher films often have very low budgets from what films i've analysed so far. For example the famous Halloween had a budget of $350,000 and Firday the 13th Had an estimated budget of $550,000 which is very little compared too most hollywood blockbusters. These films in comparison too there bidgets made massive ammouts of money at the box office, Friday the 13th made almost $40,000,000 at the box office and Halloween made $47,000,000 in the USA alone with a further $13,000,000in Europe. These film went to show the money making potential of the slasher film and so sparked a trend of new low budget horror film which went on to make big money such as: Nightmare on Elm street, My bloody Valentine and more recently films such and Scream and Final Destination. The sort of distributors that go for slasher films are smaller and independent Film distributors. However big company such as Lions gate and New line cinema have supported films like Saw and Texas chainsaw massacre. larger film companies such as Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures tend to shy away and dont invest in slasher films possibly due to there un glamorous look and contraversy that can come with a slasher film. 

How Digitisation is affecting moviemakers (Monsters)

In the last few previous lessons we have been learning about digitisation. Digitisation is making it easier for indie film makers to create there own films and publish them. Instead of having to use massive rigs to film and have a large amount of crew members not to mention a hefty budget, you can now just have a laptop, a HD camera and an idea to create a film. This is what were doing on a very small scale for our coursework.

Film Poster for "Monsters"

An example of this is Monsters which is an sci-fi adventure film set in Mexico, we watched a behind-the-scenes episode on the making of this film, we were astonished to learn that they have 5 crew members and 2 actors, paying small amounts of money for people to be in there film. They had 250 animated creatures designed and used throughout the film. They also had a production time of 3 months to film. This was made easier by the accessibility to edit. They were editing while filming, which meant if there were any shots that they didn't like they could easily re shoot the scene, instead of having to go to more expense to re shoot it after they had edited it or simply cut the scene out.

Rough Cut Feedback

Today we received feedback on our second edited piece of rough cut footage. Overall the feedback we received was positive even with missing scenes. For the missing scenes we filled in text where they would be on screen to give an impression that it wouldn't cut from one scene to another. We got some really good feedback such as:

• When the killer is walking down the stairs make the sound effect of the knife scraping on the wall earlier.
• Have Will (the victim) look more terrified on several of the scenes, possibly cry for help.
• Parts of the camera work are shaky.
• More variation of shots.

We will be looking to correct these errors when we next set out filming which will be soon. As well as filming new material such as the missing scenes. 

More Test Footage

Today me, Will and Andy went to film some more test footage for our next rough cut, we did this as in our previous filming we had not been able to collect much footage due to various technical  issues.
The filming went extremely well and we were unfortunate to miss out on 2 scenes (the killing and the scene where Will leaves his friends) this was due to us not having enough time to film and that the weather outside was appalling.

We again set out our mis-en-scene which featured glass and dirt (leaves and soil) across the floor as well as blood splashed across the walls. We have had a problem making the blood look realistic both times we've used it, the blood has been too watery causing it to be too light when placed on skin although on the walls it looked okay. Although we weren't in costume we did pick out another prop the murder weapon; which is a large kitchen knife.

As we also had to edit on the same day Will decided to edit during his free period where he edited the outside footage which we had collected at a previous date, we filmed the indoor scenes during 3rd period and lunch. Andy edited the indoor scenes during his free period and I helped him finish off after school.

Overall I think the filming went very successful as we were able to change things that we had previously received feedback on as well as add new ideas of our own.

Tuesday filming

On Tuesday me and Will decided to film some of our scenes for our film opening so we could edit part of it on either Wednesday or Thursday as I was away then. Unfortunately we had several problems with filming; firstly Andy was away so we could only film certain scenes- mainly the inside ones but then we had a bigger problem. The tripod broke on set which meant we wouldn't of been able to record many shots without shaky footage, instead we decided to try some PoV shots.

Although we had quite severe problems shooting it was still a successful shoot as we were able to create a realistic Mis-en-scene. This features blood on the walls and glass and debris from outdoors scattered on the floor. We also found a chain which we are going to use to tie the victim to the pipes with.

Appealing to the Target Audience

There are many things that we can do to appeal to a certain target audience, the first thing that will help us to discover the genre we are aiming for is research.

From researching 10 different horror films and looking at the openings you can notice several patterns that emerge. An example of this is who they feature, in the majority of horror films that I watch and have researched they feature either young adults or teenagers.

The casting we did was very simple as we only featured 2 characters. From what we had been planning on our production we wanted a taller character to play the killer as it would look more menacing and make the main character look weaker, also knowing the killer would be masked or either the identity hidden. This made casting a lot easier.

From watching previous slasher films we all had our opinions on which ones were good and which were bad, a major influence of these were how the editing worked and what shot variety they had placed. As we were teenagers we knew what we wanted, which also meant we knew what our audience would want. We wouldn't want to be bored by a slow opening as this may put them off watching the rest of the film, we knew we would have to have a lot of shot selection to use when editing to keep the audience attracted. We also thought that we could have an event going on all the time, even when the person wasn't being kidnapped or murdered, but we soon deciding not to do this as it may overcomplicate the opening of the film and again put the audience off viewing any more of it.

Podcast 3

Rough Cut feedback

Last week Will finished editing our rough cut piece which contained part of the outside scene as well as the inside scenes.
The feedback we got gave us an outlook on our film opening and also helped us with possible storyline ideas. We also received feedback on lighting, Mis-en-scene, characters and location. The main feedback we received was on Mis-en-scene, we were told to make the cellar look messy and unused some of the ideas were To put smashed glass on the floor, put dirt on the floor and walls, we also needed to make it darker due to the natural lighting shining too brightly on our kidnap victim during the shoot. Will had an idea to use artificial lighting instead and shine it through a grate in the other room.

Company Blog

Last week we created the company blog for our production company Conspiracy Productions. The blog will feature all of our podcasts and vodcasts as well as our rough cuts.

Podcast 2 - Film Idea + Test Footage

Today we commented on our film idea as well as test footage that we had previously recorded.

Weapon Choice

One of the biggest choices that we had to make during our time creating our slasher film was what was the murder weapon going to be. We could have picked from a wide variety; such as an axe used in My Bloody Valentine(1981) or a chainsaw used in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1984), but we have chosen to follow Halloween, Scream and many more slasher films which have all used to the what now seems to be traditional murder weapon, the kitchen knife. 

This is a similar kitchen knife to what we are
going to use in our Slasher Film.

We have chosen to use this as it follows modern conventions of the murder weapon. The weapon has been used in some of the most most known and influential horror films ever.  

"FlashPoint Pictures" BETA Ident

This is my beta company ident. I made the ident using the program Cinema 4D, to create the explosion effect I used a free, downloadable plugin called Thrausi. To make the ident look more realistic I used an effect called ambient occlusion; I used this as it creates reflections off of the other parts of the text.

Company Ident

This is a screenshot of the current visuals/opening of my company ident for my production company "FlashPoint  
Pictures". The ident will be uploaded to Youtube over the weekend, as the current render time for the clip is approximately 2 hours. It is being rendered in the Youtube 720p settings (1280 x 720) for best quality. I made the ident using the program Cinema 4d as well as using a plugin called Thrausi.

Podcast | Initial Ideas

Final Cut Program Analysis

Final cut is quite obviously the better software to use for our coursework. It has more of the basic features that you would expect on editing software such as transitions and effects. The effects list has many options to pick from. From the effect you pick, you can pick a more detailed effect.
Final cut also has a simple design for how much it features; it offers 2 screens in comparison to iMovies 1 screen, this makes it a lot easier to view your clip as you add effects. It is noticeably easier to cut clips and then by holding the apple button you can clip 2 clips together.
Overall I think Final Cut will be the better program to use for my coursework.

AK - Trick or Treat Opening Analysis

Trick or Treat (1986) Director: Charles Martin Smith
Trick or Treat begins with a DEG ident. A male voice over begins reading lines from Doctor Faustus as the title and credits play. The title Trick or Treat is on a black background and is in a font similar in style to fonts used by quite a few 1980s rock and heavy metal bands logos. This signifies that hard rock/heavy metal music might have in important role in the film. There are then credits in an off-white, capitals serif font on a black background which play until 48 seconds into the film. The last two names to be credited are Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne which provides further anchorage that hard rock/heavy metal music will be influential to the film.

The credits quickly fade out to black and it cuts to an image of a metal musician against a black background. A hard rock song begins to play and the camera zooms out to show the image to be a poster in a bedroom wall. The camera then moves through the room to show books on rock, a calender with a band as the picture, a black leather belt with studs, a skull etc. Everthing signifies that the person whos room it is is really into that kind of genre of music and likes to try and dress like his idols.

The shot then overlaps into a similar type of shot showing more posters of bands such as Anthrax and Ozzy Osbourne which signifies the time period to be in the mid to late 80s. The camera then continues to move around the room showing more memorabilia and overlapping into another shot which does the same. The camera eventually reaches a long shot of a boy, with long black hair and dark clothing, lying on his bed writing a letter. The music gets quieter and a voice over comes on. He is saying what he is writing. He begins by saying 'its me again, Ragman' which signifies that he writes to this person quite often and it also tells the audience what the character calls himself. He then goes on to say 'its them against us. I cant believe the cancelled your halloween concert' which signifies that he sees the person that he is writing to as similar to himself, and that the person hes writing to is likely to be a fairly successful performer. It then cuts to a long shot of the poster which was shown at the start, the focus then changes to be on the boy. This signifies that the person he is writing to is the man on the poster and someone that the boy idolises.

The voice over and music continue playing and there is an audio bridge as the scene overlaps to a medium long shot of teenagers walking up some stairs indoors carrying some books. This signifies that it is in a school setting. The camera then pans across to show the boy sitting under the stair with his arms crossed.

Next it cuts to a medium close up of the boy stood reading a magazine, with a picture of Motley Crue on the back, in a corridor. This is the first time you get to properly see the boy in a good light. He is wearing headphones around his neck and is wearing a denim jacket with a skull pin and guitar pin on it. This provides more anchorage of the boys personality and style.

It then cuts to a long shot of a girl walking down the corridor who he likes, she waves, it cuts back to the medium close up of the boy who waves back thinking that she's waving at him, and it then cuts back to a medium shot of the girl and the camera pans as it follows her walking past the boy to her friend. It ends on an over the shoulder medium close up of the boy, showing the girl and her friend starting talking and the boy looking awkward. The voice over then stops for a short while. It then cuts to a two shot of him eating his lunch with a geek who is represented in this way by wearing large glasses, a shirt and his hair. The main character then drinks his milk but it goes over him as someone has put a hole in the carton. It cuts to show the people who did it laughing at him. All of this signifies that he isn't liked and people bully him.

It then cuts to a medium close up of him walking down the coridor, it cuts to a point of view shot and the same people who put a hole in his milk mess up his hair. This allows you to see the people better and they are represented as jocks by them wearing jeans and a varsity jacket or a jacket with its collar up and trainers. It then cuts back to the medium close up of the main character with his messed up hair and him looking annoyed.

Next it cuts to show shower tiles and the camera tilts down to show the boy in the shower (at school). It cuts to show him walking through the changing rooms with just a towel round his waist and when he gets to his locker the jocks are looking at his stuff and taunting him with it. He then gets pushed through a door as another jock takes his towel off him. It cuts to an extreme long shot of some girls playing volleyball in a sports hall and they turn around to look at him. So hes naked in a sports hall with loads of girls looking at him and he tries to get back through the door but it has been locked/held shut by the jocks.

It cuts to a medium close up of one of the girls and she looks like she has an idea. She runs to get a camera and as the other girls laugh at him, she takes pictures. He looks gutted and then it cuts to a medium long shot of one of the girls and as the camera zooms in on her she goes from laughing to looking sorry for him. The voice over begins again as he drops against the door.

There is then an overlap to a shot of his room again, with the poster of his idol in the center of the screen. This adds importance to the man in the poster. The camera tilts down to show the boy still writing his letter. This allows the audience to realise that what they had seen was a flashback of what the boy was writing about. It then cuts to another shot of the poster and the camera zooms in as the voice over says 'the one things that holds me together is you'. This anchors that the boy is writing to him. He then says 'you did it man. You went to this fucking school and you rose above it. Now youre on top, and you can just look down at the anthill and smile'. This provides the audience with exposition of why the main character idolises him, because he can relate to him. The boy finishes off his letter and tears of the page.

It cuts to a close up of the boys hands holding an envolope addressed to Sammi Curr. This is the first time that the audience actually finds out the idols name. I think that they manage to do this well as the audience already knows who the letter is to with use of mise-en-scene and shot variation, and by telling the characters name through it saying it on a letter is quite subtle and it just adds a name to a face for the audience instead of the film just providing obvious exposition about the character which wouldn't of been as effective.

The music fades out and the opening ends.

AK - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Opening Analysis

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Director: Tobe Hooper

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre begins with a black screen and the words 'a vortex/henkel/hooper production' fade in then out, then the words 'a film by tobe hooper' fade in and out. The font is yellow and serif which connotes that the film is not going to be a light, easy to watch film.

Text then scrolls up the screen in the same font and there is a male voice over reading it. The narrator sounds serious as he provides exposition of what the audience can expect to see in the film. The date August 18th 1973 the fades in and out in the same font.

All of this takes just over a minute and although I think it works well for this film I think we would have to provide exposition more subtly with use of mise-en-scene for it to be more effective.

There is then diagetic sound with a black screen. This makes the audience imagine what might be happening and because it sounds like cracking bones, human sounds, spade shovelling or anything else that the audience can think they hear, it is likely to make them think of bad things. I think this is something we should use in the first 5 or 10 seconds of our opening.

Along with these noises there then begins some camera flashes and exagerated camera noises. These show close ups of a rotting dead body but only for a short time each. I think that this is good because it helps the audience to add to the picture that theyve already got in their mind and make them think of even worse things that could be happening. There are also some jump cuts that help to imprint the images in the viewers mind.

These noises go on until about 2:06 into the film and the sound of a radio fades in over the noises. This provides the audience with further exposition and doesn't allow them to relax. The black then fades into a close up of the dead persons face against a rural backdrop. This zooms out and shows a second dead body in front of it. There are a few crash sounds and deep guitar notes playing in the background. The take ends on a long shot of the two bodies which finally allows the audience to see the full picture and, along with the radio, understand a bit more about whats happening. It holds on this long shot for quite a long time until the radio ends. I think that this works quite well because the previous shots had all been very quick and dark so this adds shot variation.

This then cuts to the credits which are shown over a red and black backgroud. The credits are in the same font as at the start. The background is nothing recognisable but the red moves unevenely through the black which could connote blood. The radio continues to play through the opening but it is difficult to hear what is being said as there are loud, non-diagetic sounds played. It ends with a crash as an image of a sun/bright yellow circle on black.

The opening is 4 minutes 34 seconds.

AK - The Crow Opening Analysis

The Crow (1994) Director: Alex Proyas


The Crow doesn't have an ident at the start but instead begins with a black screen. A tamborine starts playing and the name of the main actor in the film, Brandon Lee (Bruce Lee's son), quickly fades in. It then fades out and the title of the film, The Crow, fades in and out. Both use a white, sans-serif capital font against a black background. After the title has faded out you hear sirens.

The next scene fades in from the black. It shows an establishing, aerial extreme long shot of a city smoke and fire coming from it. The buildings are almost black and the fire and smoke is orange, which are the two main colours in the shot. The words 'October 30th - Devils Night' fade in at the bottom of the screen in a white font. This provides the viewer with exposition as to the time of year and also signifies that the film might be set in Detroit, as Devils Night was commonly associated with arson and vandolism in Detroit at the time.

It then cuts to an extreme long shot from a helicopter of a building on fire. The helicopter moves forwards going over and between the buildings and is it does this at first there are some sounds of police radios and then the voice of a female child plays and she talks about crows significance when bad things happen. The take ends with a shot through a smashed round window of police investigating inside a large vandalised room. The room lit in red.

It then cuts to a birds-eye view extreme long shot shot of a couple of people on lying on stretchers and some other people standing around them. There is also a hearse and a police car and barriers in the shot. The scene is quite dark but there is lighting from the left side of the screen which highlights the main focus of the image and there are also police lights flashing. I like the use of lighting in this shot and I think that we should try to use the ideas of the lighting in our opening when the main character is outside in the flashback.

Next it cuts to a close up of one of the officers in the room smoking. Then it cuts to a medium shot from behind him as begins to turn around.

There is then a medium close up of a forensic photographers camera flashing as there is the diagetic noise of the shutter closing. This is a very short take which I think helps to add to the disquieted feeling of the opening. It cuts to an extreme close up of an office going into a box to get out and put on some latex gloves. The photographers flash goes off a couple of times while this happens. This all creates anchorage to show that some people have been killed in the building and the police have just got there to investigate as the victim/s bodies are taken to a mortuary.

It then cuts back to the medium shot of the officer. There is then a high angle shot that pans to show a woman bleeding from her chest and face lying on the ground and paramedics giving her an oxygen mask and treating her.

There are then a few shots that give the audience a bit of insight as to how its happened. There is a close up shot of an officer dusting a glass vase, the officer who was smoking picks up a couple of photographs of people, he looks at a photo on some paper on the wall of a group of people. This cuts between a woman and a man on the picture. This signifies that maybe the man attacked the woman who is lying on the floor. The officer then picks up an invitation to a wedding of Mr. Eric Draven and Ms. Shelly Webster. I think that all of this works well as it subtly provides information about what might of happened but still manages to keep the film in polysemy.

The first diagetic speaking doesn't come into the film until 1:48, where the police officer starts talking with the other officer, who is looking at the wedding dress, about the invitation. There is cross cutting between them talking and the woman lying on the ground being treated. One of the paramedics then tells an officer that the woman needs to be taken to hospital. He agrees and they begin strapping her to a stretcher.

One of the officers asks what the count is so far and the other officer replies saying theres been 143 fires with 3 hours to go. This provides the audience with exposition of the number of fires and also the time of day.

The woman is wheeled out of the room and then it cuts to a close up of a wooden beam outside. A crow flies in and lands on the beam. This, with what the voice over at the start said, foreshadows what will happen.

It then cuts to shots of the main officer coming out of the building and talking to a detective. It also cuts to a close up of the womans face.

Next it cuts to a close up of someones feet who is wearing black boots and riding a skateboard. It then cuts to a medium shot of the person who is a young girl pushing her way through the crowds. There is cross cutting between the girl, the police and there is also a close up of the crow. The girl gets to the woman on the stretcher and calls her Shelly. Shelly then asks where Eric is and the officer tells her not to worry about him. She then asks the officer to tell her to take care of Sarah. Shelly is then put into an ambulance and the office asks the young girl if she's Sarah, to whihch she replies that she is. All of this provides exposition about the names of some of the characters which tells the audience that the woman being taken away is getting married the next day and she was probably with her fiance that night.

The officer tells Sarah that her sisters going to be OK. Sarah then replies by saying that Shellys not her sister but her friend who takes care of her and then she tells the officer that he lied to Shelly about Eric and to her about Shelly. She says 'shes going to die isnt she' and then starts crying and the officer comforts her.

The girl is the same person that was doing the voice over at the start which suggests that the opening is a flashback as what she said seems to foreshadow what will happen in the rest of the film, which suggests that its already happened when she does the voice over.

It cuts to an extreme long shot and the camera zooms out which shows the officer comfortic Sarah in the center of the shot with other people standing in the dark street which is lit by the fires, police lights and street lights. The end of the take goes into slow motion and the shot fades out to black. I think this is an effective way to end the opening as it leads into the rest of the film and also signifies that it was all a flashback.

The opening is 4 minutes 3 seconds.

AK - Saw 2 Opening Analysis

Saw 2 (2005) Director: Darren Lynn Bousman


Saw 2 begins with the Lions Gate Films and Twisted Pictures Idents. It then goes into a POV type shot  which begins with a close up of a hanging lightbulb that changes in brightness. Also the focus on the lightbulb changes between in and out of focus which I think works well as it connotes that the character is just regaining consciousness/waking up. He then looks around the room at different things in it such as a vent on the wall, the tv and finally his trap that hes in. There is a mirror on his trap which he uses to look at himself. I think that the POV type shot ending up looking in a mirror would be the best way to introduce the victim in our opening. The camera then zooms out and around the room showing the victim in his trap.

Then theres quick paced close up and long shots of the victim calling for help and getting out of his chair.

Next it shows the tv coming on with the puppet talking to the victim. The shots cut between a close up of the tv and a medium close up of the victim. This lets the viewer know what is happening and it also shows how the victim is responding to it.

It then goes to the victim starting his task and doing it. This uses quick varying shots and uses exagerated sound of the timer ticking and camera zooms to create tension and show that he hasnt got much time which I think we would use in our opening.

It ends with the time running out, the trap shutting on his face and the sound suddenly stops as he dies. There is a close up of his face with blood running from it.

AK - Rear Window Opening Analysis

Rear Window (1954) Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Rear Window begins with Universal and Paramount Pictures idents. This overlaps into the opening credits. The text is in capitals in a yellow/brown to white gradiented, serif font. The text is quite large and takes up most of the screen. Behind the text there are three windows with blinds down. The blinds then slowly raise up one at a time as the credits play. Through the windows you can see a neighbourhood. The fire escapes on the sides of the building signify that it is set in America. Non-diagetic orchestral music plays through the credits and first few takes of the film. All three blinds finish going up, the credits end and the camera zooms in closer to the window.

It then cuts to a high angle extreme long shot of a cat walking up some outdoor stone stairs. The camera pans across and tilts up and down to follow the cat and show more of the neighborhood. There are people standing on a balcony, people in the apartments and people walking through the neighbourhood. The camera eventually comes back into the window to show a close up of a middle aged mans face sweating. The man is sitting down and looks relaxed.

It then cuts to an extreme close up of a thermometer which is at just over 90°F which shows how hot it is. The camera tracks across to show a man in another window shaving. And a radio from inside his house starts playing.

Then it cuts to an extreme long shot of a man and woman waking up on a baclony and again the camera moves, this time showing another woman in her house, someone putting washing out of their window and again the camera comes back in through the window to show the man sitting down. This time the camera keeps moving past his face and shows him in a wheelchair with a cast on his leg. On it is written 'Here lie the broken bones og L.B. Jefferies'. The camera then moves around the room to show photographs of a car crash, then it shows a camera, then it shows a photo of a woman and then some Paris Fashions booklets with the same woman on the cover. All of this provides a bit of exposition. The camera probably belongs to the man and the Paris Fashions booklets would suggest that he might be a fashion photographer, however there is still some narrative enigma with the photographs of the car crash. The mise-en-scene also signifies that it is set in the 50s. The shot fades to black.

There are only four takes in the opening so each one is quite long. I think that as this is an old film it would of worked well when it was released, but I find it too slow and a bit repetitive and I would have prefered more takes and faster editing.

The opening is 3 minutes 52 seconds.

AK - Rabid Opening Analysis

Rabid (1977) Director: David Cronenburg

Rabid begins with a New World Pictures ident. The ident fades out and it cuts to an extreme long shot looking behind a brown haired woman wearing leather biking clothes, standing by a motorbike. There is a road running across the screen in front of the woman, an old barn on the opposite side of the road and a country scene in the background. There are no leaves on the trees, the sun isnt out and there might be a bit of snow on the ground in the background which signifies that it is autumn/winter. The main colour in the shot is brown which adds to the feeling that although it is daytime in the countryside, its not a very picturesque shot. The camera begins to move around the woman with use of a steadicam as credits begin to play. The credits are in a yellow, sans-serif font with a shadow and they come on in different positions in the shot which fits in with the camera movement and makes the viewer see more in the shot. It is quite a long, slow take and ends with showing a man walk out of a small building behind her.

The music which starts from the first shot is quite slow and uses long, high-pitched notes which isnt what you’d usually associate with a slasher film. This might however be used through the film to make the audience think that everything is fine before a scare or a killing.

It then cuts to a medium close up of the man walking out the building. He has black, 70s style hair and is also wearing biking leathers which signifies that hes probably with the woman. The building is mainly dull brown in colour. This all connotes that the film is set in the 70s.

The man looks up and it cuts back to the extreme long shot of the woman from behind, which makes it similar to a point of view shot.

It then cuts to a close up of the woman from the front who is rubbing her hands together to warm them up. This also signifies that it is cold and probably autumn/winter. I quite like the composition of this shot and I think that it fits in well with the music and overall feel of the opening to this point, but I dont think that it would work very well in our opening as so far it doesnt feel like a slasher film.

It then cuts back to a close up of the man who is still looking at the woman in an admiring way. This signifies that they have quite a close relationship.

The music fades down and it cuts to an extreme long shot of the two people on the motorbike driving down the road. There is just the diagetic sound of the motorbike and then music similar to before begins playing. The camera is in front of the bike and moving at roughly the same speed as it, so the bike stays pretty much in the same place in the shot throughout the take. The title Rabid comes on in capitals in a distressed, yellow font with a black shadow and a thick line above and below the text (also in yellow with a black shadow) at the bottom, centre of the screen. The title goes off and the take continues, showing some more credits. It is a long take and I quite like how it cuts from the very slow, peaceful start to the fast paced take of the bike.

It then cuts to a close up of one of the bikers brown leather boots and the wheel as well as some of the road as they are driving. This is also quite a long take. It cuts back to the extreme long shot from before which is also quite a long take. Next it cuts to an extreme long shot from beside the road. The bike drives past the camera and it pans across to follow the bike, ending with the bike riding off into the distance.

The credits play through all of this which I think could run for a bit less time as it is quite slow, but the quick motorbike does add a bit of pace to the credits.

The music fades out and it cuts to a long shot of a sign that says Keloid Clinic Inc. In the background there is the outside of a building with a grassy area and a path which leads to two men wearing white standing and talking. This all helps to connote the setting. The noise of the motorbike fades in as the camera pans, tilts and zooms to show some windows next to each other on the building. A voice of a man begins to play which creates an audio bridge to the next take.

It cuts to a medium close up shot of a middle aged man sitting in a chair, smoking a cigar and talking. I think it works well how the previous shot shows you that the man is in the building by zooming into a window and using an audio bridge. The camera zooms out as the man provides exposition by talking about plastic surgery.

Then it cuts to a medium long shot of another man sitting behind a desk. He is also middle aged and appears to work at the clinic by what he says and the mise-en-scene with the desk and his shirt, tie and waistcoat.

It then cuts to a long two shot of the man smoking and a brown haired woman sitting in a long white dress and high heels on another chair. On the wall there are diagrams of the human body and there are big books on a shelf.

It then cuts between a medium close up of the smoking man, a medium close up of the woman and a medium long shot of the other man depending on whos speaking at the time. They talk about experimental plastic surgery.

It then cuts to an extreme long shot of a road and the same music begins playing again. The bike rides down the road past the camera. It cuts to a close up of the two peoples feet as they drive along. Next it cuts to a point of view over the shoulder shot from the passengers viewpoint which might make the audience feel like they are there on the bike. I then cuts to another extreme long shot from off the road and pans across as the bike goes past. All of these are long takes and very similar to the first driving scene which I think works quite well.

The opening is 2 minutes 59 seconds.