Horror research questionnaire and analysis

For this part of the task, Ishpreet Sundal and I sat down and created suitable questions in which we could apply to a questionnaire to ask the audience to help us for our horror film. We created the questionnaire via ''survey monkey'', this was important to help us towards our final piece as we wanted to gain information such as the demographics of our target audience and fine out what they like and dislike about horror movies. By doing this allows us to negotiate on what we can use for our final piece and give us a rough outline of what our target audience expect to see. We published our questionnaire on social networking sites such as: Twitter and Facebook:
Below is some screen shots which are taken from our questionnaire:

Here is the link to the website 'Survey Monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HLCD5WH

Once we had gathered all of our results Ishpreet Sundal uploaded the analysis of the results onto 'Prezi', this was important to us as with these results me and my partner could negotiate on how we can create our narrative and also use what they liked about horror movies so that it would be suitable for our target audience. By finding out what our target audience wanted to see allowed us to conform to these so that we would fit their criteria of what they would want to see.

Todorov Narrative Theory

To help us with our research and planning I decided to create a Power Point on Todorov's narrative theory as I established that our opening sequence would most likely fit his theory. By creating this connotes that we have an understanding of film theorist and how they regularly apply to films, this theory would most likely appear in every horror film as most horror films finish with a restored equilibrium. When planning our film we would consider the ways in which our film can subvert this theory however, as it is a horror genre it would be quite unlikely to do so.

Horror genre research: Timeline

For our horror genre research  my group member Ishpreet and I were researching into horror, we did this as we plan to create a horror opening sequence and to complete this we need to have a lot of background knowledge to enable us to create a film that follows the generic codes and conventions of a horror film. To help do this Ishpreet Sundal used www.dippity.com to illustrate all the information we had gained from our research. For each piece of research we conducted, we have embedded the link under each slot. We will be using this when creating our opening sequence as we may decide to pay homage to some old style horror films in order to conform to the horror conventions.

http://www.dipity.com/Ishpreet/History-of-horror/

History of horror on Dipity.

Preliminary task

In class our teacher had set us a preliminary task which enabled us to demonstrate the use of shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule, we decided to work in a group of me, Ishpreet Sundal Bryony Johnson and Rumena Ahmed. We used cameras to film this and then edited it onto iMovie.
In order to make this successful and to help us with our planning we created a storyboard and discussed as a group what to include and how, in order to help with our planning Ishpreet created a shot list which consists on location we will be using, actors and props that will included in the video. While doing this we noticed that the camera and tripods would remain as our two focus items as without these we cannot create a successful video.

After evaluating this we asked other group members on ways they think we could improve our preliminary task, I focused on the conventions which we used such as 180 degree rule which was one of our main focusses to convey media conventions.

Once we had edited our preliminary task we decided on a creative way we could evaluate what we done, so to do this as a group we created a news reported and we all had to focus on one main aspect of the video, below is the news report that we had created.

Match on action

Match on action is an editing technique which is used to shown an action being filmed from different view points and perspectives. The shots have to be edited in order to make them seamless and that they show continuity throughout the film and for the audience.

Our class teacher had explained to us how match on action works and then set us a task of creating a film of our own match on action. We were set the task to record two people walking into another room which for this we used our school common room as it was a simple location and showed two people walking into it from two different shots. We showed them having a conversation before the entered the room and then made sure they carried on the conversation onto the next shot to show continuity. While researching online about match on action and examples I managed to find a sketch of the outline of how match on action works.


I worked in a group with Ishpreet Sundal and Bryony Johnson and created a video in order to show we understood how match on action worked. To do this I filmed one of the shots and Bryony filmed the other and Ishpreet who was one of the main characters. We then used iMovie to edit the video together and had to be very accurate on timings so that it was continuous on to the next shot.
Whilst filming the match on action we had to make sure that we situated the cameras in the correct place which we found quite easy, we had to make sure that both of the cameras could not see each other. We had a few difficulties in making sure that we pressed record at the right time and that me and Bryony was synchronised. When it came to editing we had noticed that the shots were not simultaneous and that the dialogue was inaccurate, so to concur this we used footage which we had from before and learnt that when it comes to future filming we must make sure the cameras are recording at the same time and that every one is sure of their roles needed.

180 Degree rule and Shot reverse shot

Below I have used a diagram and a short video to be able to show how an 180 degree rule shot works. The 180° rule is an editing technique used to maintain continuity to the audience.

The 180 degree rule enables that the camera should always stay on one side of the actors. by using this rule you may also include a use of shot reverse shot, the 180 degree rule must always be placed on an imaginary axis around two characters you are filming, not breaking the 180 degree barrier around one side of the two characters, keeping the left character on the left and the right character on the right. By using this shot you can clearly see the eyeline match used between both characters present and to keep this continuity present the camera must not go over the imaginary axis line. If you go over the 180 degree line then you will be breaking the rule and this will not show continuity between the film and can also be quite confusing to those watching e.g. the audience.

 

As for shot reverse shot, this is usually demonstrated with two people conversing with each other. We see this when one person is talking and we will either see the camera on their face or the reaction of the opponent in the conversation, this is done so we can see their reaction. For example in film you would continuously record the conversation of two people and then straight cut to the other. You would have to edit this with good continuity in order to make it clear and understanding to the audience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOiQlGhKrGs

Introduction

My name is Chloe Connell and my candidate number is 3044. I  am currently studying at Swakeleys sixth form, this is my blogger for the production of my foundation portfolio which is then leading to creating an opening to a film. I am going to be working with Ishpreet Sundal in order to create my AS horror opening sequence.