Evaluation

FM3 Creative Project Evaluation


The film, in which I have created, is about a young girl, Emily, who had been involved in the disappearance of her friend Beth Richards and claims she witnessed some paranormal activity of something that is unexplainable. The film sequence I have created shows Emily being interviewed months after the disappearance of her friend. The interviewer is asking Emily a series of questions about the events that had happened on the night her friend went missing. Parts of the interview show Emily is being possessed by something unknown.

The audience my film is aimed at is young teenagers/adults. The ways in which I have made my film apply to my target audience are elements such as using a young girl, the same age as what I would want my audience to be, if an older person was used the film would not have the same effect on the targeted audience. Another element I developed my film on is the audiences of other horror films. From my own knowledge from family and friends, it tends to be younger people who watch horror films, therefore my decision was to make my film appeal to younger audiences. This was also established in the audience feedback questionnaire when I asked each individual spectator to watch my film and fill in the questionnaire. One of my questions being ‘what would you say the target audience for the film is?’ To which they all answered young teenagers/or young adults therefore the target audience I aimed by film at was successful.

The narrative of my film sequence would be non-linear as the film sequence I have created would be the end of the film, but in fact it is shown at the beginning, meaning that my sequence is the equilibrium of the whole film as it establishes the character and gives hints of the storyline through Emily’s dialogue. The film would go on to show what happened that night, and find out what happened to Beth, Emily’s missing friend.
To create a successful film sequence I had to follow aspects such as the mis-en-scene, editing, sound and cinematography and within these I had to make sure I followed the codes and conventions that are found within horror genre films allowing me to create something that would have the same effect on the audience as any other horror film.
The mis-en-scene within the sequence is very straightforward as I planned to have the effect of an interview room because of the narrative of the sequence. The rooms tend to be very plain, with dim interior lighting, which I was able to create through the light settings in the room. The black and white background behind Emily was chosen because I wanted it to signify Emily, as a characters state. The white part of the background signifiers the innocent, normal, young part of Emily and the black which is above the white would signify that Emily is being taken over by something dark as the conations given to the colour black are unhappy emotions, and often death. Within some of the shots the line dividing the black and white is not level which represents the narrative as something is not quiet right and something is wrong.

This idea of the plain interview room also comes in when choosing props for the setting. No physical props are used except what would be found in an interview room such as the chair Emily is sat on and the desk which is placed in front of her, again bringing the plain stereotypical image of an interview room. The costume Emily is wearing however needed it to be modern, and something that would be seen in the year the film is set in which is 1995. The jeans, top, and cardigan establishes the age of the character and also clothes that would have been worn in that era. The black and white stripy top in particular was chosen to give the effect that Emily is trapped. The black and white stripy top is the stereotypical costume of someone that commits crime such as a prisoner or a robber and Emily within the narrative is being taken over by something evil, something bad which links in with the stereotypical costume of people who commit crime, often bad people. I also particularly positioned Emily on the edge of the chair giving the impression that Emily is ‘on the edge of her seat’ feeling uncomfortable and the gap on the seat suggests that something is there, another side of Emily, which would be the thing that is possessing her.

Before filming I knew that the editing of my film would play a big part of the success of my film. Throughout the sequence I used the editing to put across emotions of Emily and to create an eerie atmosphere, which was much needed for the narrative and genre. I used colourization on the editing suite to create an effect that would make the character look drained, reflecting her emotions, and it also gives an dark ob-normal atmosphere that relates to the narrative.
The CCTV camera effect was an idea that I came up with to create the impression that Emily had being watched by us but also whatever is possessing her, as she says in the dialogue ‘I cant it will hear me’ knowing that it would be around her. I made the CCTV camera footage in monochrome to create realism suggesting that this is a real CCTV camera observing somebody. I also used the CCTV camera effect along with the dialogue. When Emily is repeating something she has already said, I used the CCTV camera affect to allow the same words to be repeated but also allows to see Emily saying it in different camera shots such as close up shots, and side shots, adding variation of shots. It also reminds the audience that she is being watched by the CCTV camera throughout, adding a more emotional influence to the narrative and the spectator.

One the main colourization editing that I used to create effect is when Emily is being possessed the first time. I made the colour turn red, as the colour red has connotations of evil. Her face turns red as if there is something evil within her as she is being possessed. I used this technique again, further in to the sequence when Emily is repeating the word ‘Evil’. When Emily says ‘Evil’ the last time the sound is louder as she comes up into the camera her face, again turns red, symbolising the evil within her, and because of the dialogue it is easily recognisable to the audience that the character has turned evil, or whatever is possessing her is evil, adding to the idea of ‘the fear of the unknown’. I used other techniques that emphasises on the idea of ‘the fear of the unknown’ as the visual aspect of what is happening cannot be seen. This is seen when the screen in which the impression that the camera has been turned off. The use of the grey screen with black coming through it is easily recognisable to the audience, and again similar to the CCTV camera creates realism. With the variety shots at the beginning of the sequence I created a reverse pattern, by doing this it refers to the CCTV camera and that she is being watched and recorded but also the fact that on a CCTV tape you are able to fast forward and rewind again creating a realistic element to the film.
Another technique I used in editing was using a video echo when Emily is being possessed and is screaming. The video echo allowed me to create the effect that something other than her is inside of her, in this case something evil. Creating two images creates the effect of two people, two sides of Emily, the good and the evil.
At the end of the sequence when the camera falls to the floor I put the monochrome effect on, to act as if the camera was damaged. The effect I wanted to give by doing this links in with the narrative and Emily’s emotions that she is damaged because of what has happened to her. After the camera has fallen, I used a dissolve to show the two sides of Emily, one in the monochrome effect showing her face, and on top of that the ‘evil’ face in red again showing the idea of the two personalities, and suggesting something within her furthering the idea of her being possessed by the unknown.
Throughout the sequence I used many editing techniques that successfully put across the mood and emotions; I think I was successful in exploring the different effects I could use on my film.

The sound used in my film, was mostly dialogue as I was to follow a written script. However I was able to change the volume and slow down the audio to make it more effective. I used different sounds throughout the sequence, and many were just basic sounds. For example at the beginning of the sequence the sound of the camera rolling was effective as that is the impression I wanted to give as Emily was being watched by a camera in the narrative. One part of the sequence were I was able to explore the sound is when Emily is shouting ‘EVIL’ at the camera. As she repeats this it gets louder and louder until the final ‘EVIL’ where this is louder than the others. With this shot I wanted to create the sound of a something masculine so that the audience could tell the difference between what is Emily and what is the demon within her, influencing the audience’s emotions hopefully fear. This fits well with the colourization of making Emily’s face red. Another important sound feature in the sequence was the screaming shots. I made the shots in silence because if the screaming sound was there it would distract the audience from the vivid visual imagery, in which the video echo is placed. The silence of the shots also creates an eerie sound, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere, often found in horror films.
Another example of sound is during the grey screen when the camera is being cut off. I used a beep to finalise what had been happening, and again has the effect of ‘the fear of the unknown’ I also used it at the end of the emergency phone call at the beginning of the sequence. The beep also adds the fact of realism as the sound which is given when a phone is put down, and it also tends to be very eerie.
The use of sound within the sequence helps add emotion and creates the atmosphere that I wanted to achieve, it also helps establish the characters behaviour in what is normal for her and when she is being possessed.

The cinematography varies throughout the sequence, as I used a range of shots that help represent the emotions of the main character Emily. As there is no extreme movements within the sequence it allowed me to concentrate on the character itself, and shows all the emotion that she goes through. I captured a extreme close up of Emily’s eye, placed in the beginning shots, I did this because it is said the eye is the window to the soul, and Emily’s soul, in the narrative has been taken over by something unknown. By doing this it draws attention to Emily before we see her being possessed, hinting to the audience that something is happening to this character. Extreme close up was also used on Emily’s lips in the style of the CCTV, giving the impression she is being watched closely, but also allows the audience to understand and see what she is saying. I used close up shots frequently in the sequence as they enable the audience to see the characters expressions and emotions. But also it invades Emily’s personal space, making the audience feel uncomfortable, following the feeling and atmospheric conventions of the horror genre. From the characters point of view, looking into the camera it gives a hint of self reflectivity and breaks the fourth wall slightly, again making the audience feel uncomfortable. The ‘EVIL’ part of the sequence also follows the uncomfortable feeling which is given to the audience as in this shot the character comes towards the camera getting closer to the audience making them uncomfortable. Other shots such as side shots, high angle shots, medium shots, and medium close up shots were used to give variation and so that the audience can hear and understand the dialogue. The variation of shots was also used so that it allowed me to create the CCTV footage because the camera would have been placed around the room in different places, making the CCTV footage realistic therefore successful.

Overall by looking at each element of my film, the mis-en-scene, editing, sound and cinematography all create meaning in my film, as act well in making my film successful. All in all I am very pleased with the sequence that I have put together, and believe I have met codes and conventions of the horror genre.