Evaluation Question 1

Forms and Conventions of a horror.

Generic Horror Conventions:

Secluded location,

Characters forget about threats,

Power is cut,

Phone Lines are cut,

Someone investigates a strange noise therefore being split up,

Victims run away from safety, instead of outside they could run upstairs trapping themselves,

Somebody falls over,

Vehicle won’t start,

Fake scare,

Warning goes unheeded,

Somebody dies,

X amount of years before or after,

Stormy Night.

Victims,

Sounds,

Protagonist, Antagonist,

Characters,

Props,

Location.

In my production, I took into account these different types of forms and conventions and I feel that some of these are very easy to include, because without thinking about them it is easy to include these because we see them all too often in horror films, you can expect these to happen. So it was easy to include factors like, an isolated location, I chose to use a farm because it is quiet and away from any villages, cities etc. so it’s the perfect location to use. Other conventions I have used are no phone lines or communication, my victim doesn’t run towards safety but runs further into the farm getting himself trapped, somebody falls over occurs so often in horrors it is strange not to see it happen, but instead of my victim falling over, it’s the antagonists, my victim potentially dies, it is night time, I used masks and fake blood for realism, also I used other props such as a pitchfork and shovel.

Evaluation Question 2

In horror movies, there are many social groups which are always represented, in my opening scene I decided to represent the social groups of Youths, or Young Men.
A definition of a Youth is, the transition from the dependence of childhood to adulthood's independence. There is no specific age in which you become a youth but it can be where you leave education and find your first employment, so generally the age in which you can class yourself as a youth can be between 15-24.
Youths stereo typically wear hoodies, track suit and youths are generally known to use bad language, I decided to use this is my final product as my actors look like stereotypical teenagers and I have my victim use strong language to portray the stereotypical Youth.

Evaluation Question 5

How did I attract/address my target audience?

1.

Firstly I researched the genre in which my opening sequence falls under, horror, and I found out the conventions which make a horror a horror, I looked into what horror movie fans want to see and what scares them the most. This information was helpful because I was able to use these key conventions in my production, such as isolation, this is one factor which most horror fans feel is crucial to have in the film, this is because it can be relatable.

I conducted secondary research in which I used the website Pearl & Dean to look at various horror movies such as The Conjuring 2 and Don't Breathe. This website told me which age groups, gender percentage of who's been to see the film, social classes etc. The information here was very helpful as it also helped me come up with a final decision of who my target audience is, this is because it showed me the majority of people who go to see horrors are 15-24 and vary between male and female due to it being very close to 50 50.

I also created a questionnaire for primary research, I feel that this wasn't the most helpful as I can only ask so many people, but I found it helpful in which the majority of people who were 15-24 are happy to see a horror movie, I asked a mix of males and females and there were more females who are willing to watch horror movies. The older the age group, the less amount of people were interested in horror movies, just because it doesn't appeal to them, it could also be because they rarely go to the cinema.

Using the internet to decide who I was aiming my opening sequence at was the most helpful source of information, mainly because it can collect information from many more people then I can, I can only ask about 50 a day whereas using websites, they can obtain this information from millions of people therefore making it a more justified answer.


2.

During my production I made the choice of only using men as my cast, this is because my target audience is mainly aimed at 15-24 males, my victim is a 17 year old male, I made this choice because  I feel that my audience can relate to his choices, his clothing, accessories etc. I made this choice because I thought that it could link to how the male audience might act in their daily lives. I chose to have my murderers wear tracksuit to show that they have never been involved in this before, also to give off the impression that they are very unprofessional about what they are doing, I also chose to have them wear masks to cover up their identities, I wanted to keep it a mystery in who they are.


3.

Audience Feedback:

"Abduction" has the potential to be a good movie. This is the result of an original idea, professional filming and enthusiastic actors. However there is an obvious fault in the sound as it does cut out, this could be done to create suspension amongst the viewers. Overall it has potential to be a good film if the sound issues are resolved.

Jonathan Talbot.

The low key lighting coupled with the nonchalant cinematography at the start of "Abduction" sets the tone nicely for the rest of the film making it clear in it being a horror film. About half way through however the sound cuts out but this is overshadowed by the enthusiastic acting, although this opening has a few minor flaws it could be a potentially outstanding film.

Samuel Newey.

The video does not show what it is about. If the genre is horror, then you need to try harder to make it scary. You should also try to film the clips on the same day in order to not get differences in the weather, the first clips were filmed in a bright environment, whereas the other clips were recorded in fog; You have to decide what weather you will film in. In a horror film, you have to build up tension, I did not see it in your final cut. You should also try to organise your files as there was no sound in one of your clips. The beginning part where the character runs does not tell us why he is running, and what is he running from, instead, he seems to be running towards danger instead. You might want to try to give a bit of narration in your final cut as I do not know what is going on. The part where the camera focuses on the watch I like, but it is a shame it did not focus on the watch sooner.

Filip Wasik

Evaluation Question 7

Research and Planning:

Throughout research and planning, I had learnt from my previous mistake of not managing my time better when I was creating my preliminary task, I had to rush the prelim so during the research and planning I tried to manage time better, I had partial success because I set times on when each blog post had to be done.
Throughout the Research, I wanted to look back at the forms and conventions of a horror, when I first chose to create a horror movies opening scene, I didn't know much about any conventions, so I decided it would be a good idea to look them up and try and use them in my final product.
The planning part I tried to manage much better, my prelim wasn't managed well at all as I had to rush it, this time for my final product I went through each step of making my product, made sure that I knew what equipment I needed and the times I was going to film, gathered my actors and went through specifically what I wanted them to do.


Construction:

These are screenshots from my preliminary task and here I had Jamie walk up to a door and raise his arm, then in the second shot I had him do the exact same thing but I would be right next to the door this time so I can catch only his hand opening the door, then the final shot I had him walk through the door and sit down.
The problem that I came across whilst editing this was that it wasn't very smooth and I didn't have enough time to fix it.
















Here are screenshots from my final product, this is all match on action.
My Actor has ran up to the fence, grabbed it and lifted his foot up in the first shot, the second follows his movement up the fence as he prepares to jump it, the third shot he is jumping back down to the ground but cuts to the next shot before his feet land on the floor, the final shot is his feet landing on the floor and then him running off.

This time I was able to create a smooth transition between each shot so it pieced together perfectly.

Overtime using Premier Pro more, I have improved a lot in my editing skills whereas at the beginning when I was trying to edit my preliminary task video, I haven't ever used Premier Pro before so I found it more difficult to finish my prelim.
Now I can use the software with ease, throughout my video, there are many more smooth transitions, fast cuts, different time frames. I was able to create my own company logo and my own opening title which I couldn't do before during my prelim.

I have improved using the hardware such as the camera, this time I have used many different camera techniques, lots of different camera movements and shots. Throughout my prelim, the majority of shot types are medium shots. Now I have used Extreme Long Shots, Long Shots, Close Ups, Medium Shots, Tracking Shots, P.O.V etc.
This time around I had a better chance to personally pick my actors, my prelim was rushed so I had to deal with actors who wouldn't of been my first choice. Now I have actors who were better suited to the roles.

My location has definitely improved because I chose to film at a farm, whereas my prelim was in school, the farm contains many horror conventions for example isolation, the location for my prelim was very basic. This improvement I feel was very helpful because of the horror conventions that the farm contains, it also shows that using the farm means I have a good understanding of the conventions.

Film Log

On the first day of filming, we started at 11:00 am to get everything prepared to begin filming my first few shots, it was a great day to do this because there weren't any clouds and it was very sunny, although when I began recording the suns glare was extremely bright so you couldn't see a thing. So I waited until about 3:00 pm when the sun had started to set, this is where I managed to record the very first shot of my victim walking down the road looking at his phone. We managed to get the next few shots filmed until the sun completely set, it eventually became too dark to carry on recording.

The second day of trying to get more filming done was postponed due to heavy amounts of rain constantly pouring it down throughout the day, so I decided to wait until night where it stopped raining and I filmed my ending, this took about 30 mins to do because I wasn't prepared to film this part yet,  I didn't have the right equipment and not enough props. After improvising I filmed my ending and I was very happy with what I captured.

The third day wasn't any better because it rained throughout the day again, but I mainly wanted to film some small sequences for titles, this was probably the easiest part of the whole production.

The fourth day of filming it was very foggy, this didn't match the first set of recording during the day because it was sunny and clear, but this fog really helped my horror movie look much better, it made everything more dull, dark and throughout the day it stayed the same, it didn't get any darker until much later into the day, therefore it gave me so much more time to film.

I went back to the farm again just to fill in any gaps that I missed, also for the final sequence I changed how my victim would be captured because the original ending didn't make sense, so I captured more footage and was able to create a better ending.

Second Draft

First Draft