Final version of Disturbed

Director's Commentary

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

By having the preliminary task as a starting point, we were able to get to grips with using the camera and filming a variety of shots for example medium shots, long shots, close-ups, wide shots etc. We also learnt how to upload anything we filmed and how to edit anything we filmed., through Final Cut Pro. The things that we learnt from filming were that sometimes, even though using a handheld camera in a horror film made some scenes effective, it was better to use a tripod to provide better quality and to also get shots that wouldn't look so shaky, and unprofessional and it was also better to use a tripod to capture shots we wouldn't have been able to capture using hand-held, for example a shot when we were scanning the beginning of the park to establish the surroundings. Other things that we learnt about the technologies was that our videos needed continuity as jump-cutting didn't look good in the film as it wouldn't have made sense and it looks more effective when it runs smoothly. The way in which we should make sure there's no jump-cutting is by filming more shots and filming them for longer. In our film, there are quite a few jump cuts, e.g. from when the girl walks into the tress, to when she is stood by the fire, some of these look effective as jump cuts in horror films aren't unusual, however, sometimes it looks incontinuous and from this, we have learnt to film for longer and film more.

We also learnt to edit effectively in order to make the film of good quality and to represent other typical psychological thriller films. Having too many effects didn't make the film look good so we decided to use a minimum amount of effects and also due the time limit, we decided to keep it plain and simple but effective in the way we captured shots, e.g. an establishing shot (pan) of the park as the film opening moves away from the chapel and into the next scene. The only visual effect we used was the black and white effect to give some parts of the film a classic, timeless quality to it and further add eeriness to the product, as a lot of horror films have black and white scenes to make them look as though they are filming in the dark/or in the past and to provide the audience with a sense of the unknown.

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

Working Title would be the kind of institition that would distribute our media product because they make low-budget films and this would be a low-budget film as we don't need expensive props, locations, special effects or actors. Working Title don't usually distribute films of the psychological thriller genre or serious horror films for example, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (although Hot Fuzz is more of an action film, it does contain elements of horror in it). However, because this film is suitable for the ages of 15 onwards, we think they may still distribute it as they have touched on the horror genre from Shaun of the Dead and perhaps may be thinking of trying out something different such as a serious horror film rather than a comedy horror film. However, Film4 do make serious low-budget horror films such as Alice Sweet Alice so they are the kind of institution that would distribute our media product. Alice Sweet Alice is about a 12-year-old girl who seems to be responsible for a series of brutal murders in her devoutly Catholic neighbourhood which shows that it is a pyschological horror film like ours.



The best company that we think would distribute our film is Working Title 2 as they are a subsidiary company from Working title who are owned by Universal (which distributes aswell as produces films) and cater for films with a budget of no more than 5 million dollars. However, Working Title cater for films with budgets more than this, for example the film 'Diamond Skulls'.

Also, another distributor which could distribute 'Disturbed' is Optimum Releasing. This company was bought by the French media giant Canal Plus and has a distribution deal in place with the new low-budget film company 'Warp X'. It's titles include the highly successful 'This Is England' and other low budget projects such as 'Donkey Punch', which tells the tale of a holiday in Spain which goes drastically wrong. This film distributor would be suitable for our film as it specialises in distributing low budget films, and has experience of distributing films of the thriller/drama genre, similar to 'Disturbed' i.e. 'Donkey Punch'.

Shot From: Alice Sweet Alice

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt from the progression from it to the full task?

From the progression of the preliminary task we learnt that when filming shots, we need to film them for longer in order to be able to edit more effectively as shorter shots dont allow you to edit as much because it's more difficult to match certain shots together without looking like a jump cut or not matching seamlessly. We also learned to use a more varied number of shots in our main task for example we used over the shoulder(when the girl is on the balcony in the chapel), long (when the girl is walking down the main path in the park), wide and high angle shots in comparison to the preliminary task where we were much limited on what shots to take as it was only for 30 seconds, and by taking different shots we were at a better advantage when it came to editing. We learned how to add in sound effects to make the sequence more intriguing and enlightening to the audience for example the wind from the trees in the park. In addition to this we learned how to use the tripod effectively for example when taking a pan shot, where we scanned the park to establish the new scene moving on from the chapel, which we did to give a neater finish to the shots whereas in the preliminary task we were struggling to use the tripod and the shots looked quite shaky and amateur.

Examples of the types of shots we used:

This is an example of a bird's-eye view shot



This is an example of a medium long shot:

Everything already mentioned makes up the planning of a film(opening). We found that effective planning, such as a story board, a detailed shot list, locations, costumes etc lead to the easier production of our opening. However, even if we didn't follow our plans to the tee, we still found them helpful as they gave guidance when we were perhaps struggling with what shot would work best.We knew exactly what kind of feel the opening needed (eerie, mysterious) and so we chose a park which connoted this atmosphere through bare trees and very few, if any people in the background. The planning also continued into the editing stage of the film process, for example, we knew that our soundtrack had to fit in with the visual images and so we used violins and other 'dramatic' sounds/instruments to convey the right 'feel' (using Garage Band). This is in contrast to our preliminary task, where a soundtrack/voice over was not needed. Also from our preliminary task, we learnt how to use the 180 degree rule, which helped us in our main task. This was especially the case when the girl is looking through her old photos and then blows out the candle.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We have used a various amount of different techniques in order to define our genre, which is a thriller for example adding wind in one of the parts of the sequence in particular when the girl is walking down the path in the park, this was done to create an eerie atmosphere. We also created a sound track on Garage Band which compliments our genre and film. We also enhanced certain sounds, for example when the girl is opening the park gates, we added a more exaggerated creaky sound to make it more effective. In some parts of the sequence we used hand held shots for example when the girl is walking up the stairs, we did this to make it as if someone was watching the girl.

A medium close up was taken near to the end where the girl is near the fire looking to the side, which makes the audience more intrigued as to what's going to happen next.



We also filmed long shots of when the girl is walking through the park so the audience can follow what she's doing as well establishing the surroundings.



An over the shoulder shot was taken when the girl is sat down in the park looking over photos she's been carrying with her, we did this to make the audience feel more involved with the character. In terms of editing, at the beginning we used low-key lighting, then as the girl approaches the park gates, and opens the gate, the lighting changes from black and white low-key lighting to colour and daylight, we did this as we wanted the scene in the chapel to look scarier in comparison to the park where we wanted to keep it in natural light to enable the audience to see the fire near the end. Another aspect of the editing was the titles, we wanted the text of 'Disturbed' to fit in with the genre, and so we used an 'old fashioned' font, adding to mysterious feel of the opening. We also put the title of the film at the end of our opening, to leave the audience 'hanging on' in anticipation for the rest of the film.



The mise-en scene had a mysterious dark theme which included various elements, for example low-key lighting in the chapel which was done to create an ominous feeling, we also lit a candle at the beginning when the girl is rummaging through old photos. The mise-en-scene at the park mainly consisted of tall, dark trees and bushes with leaves scattered around, as well no-one else around except the girl, portraying a sense of isolation. We also lit a fire in which the girl is burning her old photos which would grab the attention of the audience, as throughout the opening so far, the girl has been 'neutral' in her actions, adding to the significance of the fire and leaving the audience wondering what it means and how it relates to the rest of the film.

The mise-en-scene of the character fits in well with her surroundings, the use of dark clothing e.g. a black top and long, dark hair suggest that the girl is in some sort of state and connotes a sense of the unknown. This goes well with the fact that the girl's face is barely shown and that no one knows who she is. Her feelings are portrayed through her actions i.e. lighting a fire, and are further exasperated through what she looks like and what she is wearing. This will attract the audience as they will be intrigued as to who the mystery girl is.

Who would be the audience for your media project?

The primary audience for our media task is teenagers and adults aged 15+ as the film is a phycological thriller, however this film will not be suitable for children younger than the certificate age as it would probably be seen as disturbing and there are a few dark scenes which could seem scary or distressing to them. Similarly, Scream is a psychological thriller that is also rated 15 as that film too contains dark and distressing scenes. Our audience would be people who have a wide range of interests, in particular those who find horror films scary and interesting and are willing to participate in the film in terms of questioning what is happening and keeping up with the things that are going on in the film. Our film is made in a way that the audience is required to use common sense for a lot of things therefore the type of people that this would appeal to is people who like to think about what is going on in the film and what it entails. A lot of people are distracted when watching films or don't like thinking about things when watching films, they just want to enjoy it-those type of people would not be suited to watching our film as our film requires the audience to think.

Although our audience ranges from males and females from the ages of 15+, adults from the age of 25 would probably appreciate the film more as it requires a lot of thinking and understanding from the audience and for the audience to 'solve the puzzle' which would probably interest an older teenager, as it doesn't contain images of gore or explicit scenes which might intrest someone of a younger age.

Our main target audience in terms of gender would be predominantly women and girls in their late teens. This is because the protagonist is a female; with the film being based around her life. However, thriller films and horror films also have a large target audience of men so our film would also attract males. Because the genre is a psychological thriller, our product is aimed at a niche audience. As mentioned before, people with specific interests in elements such as mystery, drama and processes of the mind would have interest in the film. However, this would be a smaller audience with more unique taste, rather than the majority audience who have more interest in romantic-comedies and dramas, in which they can relate to.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In horror films, they usually have a vulnerable female lead (for example in Scream), our film also has a female lead who is vulnerable. By doing this, females could feel more involved with horror films such as Scream and ours. In our film, we have a girl who is 'disturbed' and this matches with other horror films in the sense that they have a mentally ill person as the lead (such as Hide and Seek). This is because the audience may consist of people who aren't usually exposed to mentally ill people or deranged people, therefore making a film about it and exaggerating it slightly will make it more effective for them. This touches on the stereo type of mentally ill people demonstrated in the media, as our film plays on the stigma associated with mental illness, but also tries to address the issues at the same time by getting the audience to work out why the character is doing the things she is.

The film would be appreciated by those from all backgrounds and ethnic groups, in particular intellectual people as the film requires the audience to think for themselves. This may also mean that adults would appreciate the film more than teenagers as they are more aware of the different types of impacts on people who may suffer from a mental illness in comparison to teenagers where their knowledge may be quite limited.

The social group that our film would most represent would be young teenage girls as they would relate to the main character in the film. She's a typical teenage girl, looking through old photographs that bring back bad memories and then goes to burn them. Teenage girls can relate to this -it isn't something totally out of this world. A teenage girl wacthing this wouldn't find it difficult to put herself into this position as it concerns the death of a relative-which is something that happens in everyday life. However, this film takes it a step further in order to make it as entertaining as possible and to be typical of a psychological thriller.

Our film opening introduces a young woman who is the main protagonist. The reason why we chose a young girl to be the main character is to create the effect that is similarly done in 'Scream' where the whole film plot is affected by a young girl’s actions, thus we try to emphasise her significance. The protagonist is casually looking through some old photogrpaphs at the start of the film, and a lot of people ocassionally look through old photographs for memories. However, what makes this girl different is that these photos bring back bad memories.

A young woman entering an isolated park and wanting to burn these old photographs that connects to her dark past shows her vulnerabilty by the fact that she is on her own in an isolated park, which could also show that she's on her own in this world. The audience won’t know that at this point, but in some ways it illustrates that she is vulnerable. This expected meaning challenges the stereotypes that people may have about young people. In addition, the opening of a film could be regarded as the most important part of the film as it shapes the plot of the rest of the film. In our opening production, we focused only on one character meaning that there is no involvement from other characters. This is vital as it demonstrates the importance of the character because the whole opening focuses on her. Immediately, we understand her significance to the story and how the rest of the story plot depends on her behaviour. In conclusion, our media product represents a young woman in a negative light even though the story plot revolves around her mysterious life. It is not clear from watching our film opening that the character has great importance in the rest of the film. Our film opening explores a traumatic past of a young girl who is haunted by a memory from her past and we approached this subject in a very subtle way. This is because we did not want to overcomplicate the situation thus meaning that we left hints all the way through the opening of the film so that the audience themselves can figure it out.

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

The genre of our film is a psychological thriller, it compares to other films of this genre as it doesn't give a away the whole plot in the first few minutes as well as keeping the main actor's identity a mystery for the audience. In terms of the camerawork, the angles we used fit well with this genre as we tried to not reveal too much in order to keep the opening more interesting and eye catching towards the audience. Our film uses a variety of different camera angles and shots just like other films of our genre, for example, a close up of the photograph in the chapel. The music that we are putting into our film sounds typical of the type of music used in horror films, it connotes eeriness, mystery, suspense and fear and that something 'bad' is going to happen. The opening sequence of other horror films such as the one researched (Scream) usually has only one character at the beginning and the character is usually in a rather neutral atmosphere and a neutral mood. At the start, everything is usually 'okay' and the audience doesn't guess that something bad is going to happen, so we too used this technique to make the audience feel more surprised when something bad actually does happen, demonstrated by the image below which shows the calm, neutral atmosphere and mood of the actress in the opening sequence of Scream. Likewise, the actress in our sequence is in a calm and neutral atmosphere-she is at home looking through some old photographs and the mise-en-scene as you can see in the background shows that she is in her house and quite comfortable, likewise, the mise-en-scene in our sequence shows the actress in her candlelit house which made the atmosphere quite homely.

The actress looking at her photos:

Other films and media products that are of similar genre to ours don't include dialogue in their openings, so we too decided not to include dialogue. However, we challenged the forms and conventions of the other films because we put the production name of the film after showing the first bit of the opening sequence rather than putting it after the opening sequence. This is because a character in the film blows a candle out and then it goes to a blackout where the production company of the film is displayed. We think this is effective because of the style in which it is done (girl blowing out the candle and then going to a blackout). This may attract the attention of the audience further as editing techniques such as this aren't always used in other film openings, for example other low budget films such as 'Brick', where the opening is much happier with the use of photos, presumably from the character's childhood.

An important prop in our media product are the photographs that the girl is looking through at the beginning. We used a close up to show one of the photographs because it has a significant meaning here but the audience at this stage will not know how this photo ties in with the plot of the story. We thought the close up was vital to include because close ups on props really do give clues to the audience of what to expect later in the film.

In terms of sound, we found it confusing as to whether we should use music or not. The quality of diegetic sound we captured was very good so we really wanted that to stand out for example the creaking of the gates you hear when watching our media product really captures the mood-it creates an eerie mood to it, as if something bad is going to happen. However, we thought a lack of non diegetic sound would not create the atmosphere we wanted. We did at the end decide to use sound suitable for the genre of the film.

Animatic Storyboard

This animatic storyboard provides a rough idea of how our film will go. Things may be changed, not done or added but this storyboard shows the main shots of our film.

Images of the Loreto college chapel-The location in which we will be filming the first part of our video

These images have been taken from the Loreto chapel where we will be filiming the first part to our 2 minute film opening. The chapel is quite dark however with effects we will later use in editing will change this to what we would prefer i.e more light in certain parts of the chapel.

Images of Alexandra Park in Manchester, the location in which we will be filming the second part of our film

In our video, we will only be using two different locations. This includes the Loreto college chapel and Alexandra Park.

Discussions on Planning for our locations

We are currently discussing whether to start of with filming the protagonist in the chapel or in a dark room where she will be sat down looking at some old photos and letters sent to her by her deceased mother. Discussing this further we have decided to do it in a room and then film in the chapel and have a set up camera at the top of the chapel in the balcony area, we decided to do this as it would look more as if someone was looking down on her, from a high angle.

Production Treatment for Main Task: Zara, Francesca, Amy and Zeenat

The name of our film will be called 'The Spirit' and the genre is horror/psychological thriller.

The duration of our film opening will be two minutes, however we may film slightly over in order to not cut out any important bits that will make our film opening successful.

The intended audience for our film opening is males and females aged between 15-35 who form the main target audience for our genre which is horror/psychological thriller.

The opening of the film will start of with showing the production company which is called Popcorn Productions and have the logo along with some sound that we will decide on. The film will then start off with a young girl in a room with low-key lighting and the camera will do a high-angle shot of her looking through old photographs, the camera isn't on the girl it will be on her hands flicking through the photographs. However, she stops on one specific photograph which is a picture of her sister who died. The camera zooms into the photo and then does a close-up of her face looking at the photograph. The girl blows the candle and as soon as she does this this there is then an establishing shot of a local, public park (Alexandra Park) and then the camera films from behind her so allow the audience to see what she is looking at. There is then a close-up of her hands as she opens the gates, then there are a number of different shots as she walks down the path towards the grave. Then she just sits at the grave looking at the photograph and the camera is looking down on her then there is a close-up of her lifting her face up and the props used will show how she has become possessed. When she is looking through the photographs at the start, the credits will begin to appear on the screen coming in from the sides, these will include 'Directed by', 'Cinematography', 'Cast', 'Editing' and then the title of the film which is The Spirit. However, throughout the filming/editing we may change certain elements which we think would work better for our opening.

The Props will include contact lenses, photographs and burnt paper.

Recording Days:
For our filming we intend to spend about 2-3 days in the week for approximately 2 hours starting from the 2nd March until the 25th March.

For our post production we intend to spend approximately 2-3 weeks of which these sessions will last for 2 hours.

Also during lessons we will use this time to complete our blog and amend any errors.

Scream-Opening Scene (only analysed the first 2 minutes as that will be the duration of our film)

Saw 1-Opening Scene (only analysed the first 2 mins as that will be the duration of our film)

Analysis and Comparison of the opening 2 minutes of Scream and Saw 1

We have chosen to analyse the opening 2 minutes of 'Scream' and 'Saw 1' to help us to create and produce our own horror opening scene as it is the same genre. We are only analysing the first 2 minutes as that is the duration of our film.

Scream starts off with showing us the production company which is Miramax International and Dimensions. The film starts off with the title which is in bold in white-however, it changes to the colour red to symbolise blood and gore which are the elements of horror films. Also, there is non-diegetic sound of screaming to match the title and drama and create anticipation. The scene opens up with a close-up of a telephone which automatically draws the audience's attention to the significance of the telephone because this is how the storyline begins. The telephone keeps ringing and the woman keeps answering, this makes the audience familiar with the sound of the telephone and also makes the audience more likely to know what's going to happen next because of the 'scary' voice of the man on the telephone. It creates suspense. It then has an establishing shot of the where this is taking place and the surroundings of the house which is a dark, isolated forest and we can see it is night which are generally the typical elements of a horror film.

Saw 1 also starts off with the name of the production company (Twisted pictures) which is quite graphic e.g it has barbed wire around it and connotes gore and horror. It also has the sounds of the barbed wire and chains as if they're locking something in and it also has the sounds of the sword dropping. It then shows the opening credits whereas in Scream they didn't and skipped straight to the title of the film. Then the title comes out with mysterious music alongside it. The title had the same graphics as the production company. When the film starts, it shows the audience what is going on then shows a black screen then goes back to showing the audience what is going on which creates suspense as the audience want to know what's happening. Then, the screen is completely blank for a number of seconds and all the audience can hear is dialogue between two people which again creates suspense. It also makes the audience more intrigued as they want to know what's going on as they can't see anything.

Compared to 'Scream', this film doesn't give a lot away, it keeps the audience wanting to know more and starts off straight away with drama and action whereas in 'Scream' it was quite calm but suspenseful at the same time.

Shot List

High angle shot of young girl looking through old photographs

Close up of girl’s hands flicking through photographs , can see black painted finger nails-the audience can see what the girl sees, can also see the house/room setting-dark, with the dim light of a candle

Close up of photos from right

Over the shoulder shot of girl looking at photos (For a variety of view points)

Camera zooms in on a particular photo of sister

Medium close up of girl looking down at photo,

Medium side shot of girl looking up, and then leaning towards flickering candle on table about to blow out

Close up of girl blowing out candle

Establishing shot of girl looking into the cemetery gates (can only see back of her, but audience can see the cemetery as she would)

Close up of girl’s hands as she opens the gates

Medium shot of girl opening gates from inside cemetery

Wide side shot of girl walking into cemetery (into the frame) then stops

POV shot of girl looking left then right

Long shot of girl walking towards camera -walking slowly-builds tension

Tracking close up of girl’s feet as she walks

Medium shot of girl continuing to walk from one side,

Medium shot from other side, can now see photo still in girl’s hand

Wide shot of girl stood up, then about to sit down-can see the cemetery setting around her

Medium shot of the girl sat down with head facing down

Over the shoulder shot of photo-can tell the girl is looking at it, can see the gravestone in foreground

Low angle shot looking up at girl, from next to grave stone

Slow zoom as girl lifts head up

Close up of girl’s face-serious expression

Extreme close up of girl’s eyes-see the ‘possessed’ look

Preliminary Task Analysis and Evaluation (Foundation Portfolio Evaluation)

In this analysis, we have covered the following topics/questions:

• What we learnt about the cameras and editing software during the preliminary task


• A specific, detailed example of how we used the shot reverse shot combination in our film


• What worked well and what could've been improved in the filming and editing of our project


• What we learnt about or incontinuous transitions and failing to achieve entire continuity

What we learnt about the cameras and editing software during the preliminary task

In this task, we learnt about how to use a different variety of shots with the camera, how to view shots we'd took, how to delete any we didn't want, how to do a close-up, zoom, medium shot, long shot, low-angle shot, shot-reverse shot and a two-shot with the camera. When we started editing, we learnt how to "mark in" and "mark out" bits of the shot that we wanted in our film, for example if we only wanted two people talking we would press the "mark in" key from where the first person starts talking and then press the "mark out" key from when they finish their conversation. By doing this, we could take what we wanted from the shot without having to put up with anything we didn't want. We also learnt about how to block out any sound we didn't want in our film and how to override shots.

A specific, detailed example of how we used the shot reverse shot combination in our film

We didn't use a shot-reverse-shot combination in our film, however, we have learnt that when two people are having a converation, it would be more effective to use the shot-reverse-shot.

What worked well and what could've been improved in the filming and editing of our project and what we learnt about our incontinuous transitions and failing to achieve entire continuity

Originally, we had made the film about a girl who goes for a job interview. When we started editing the film, we noticed that we had missed out a lot of variety of shots, e.g we only had two types (close-up and two-shot) and the film was only 13 seconds long instead of thirty so we had to film again. We changed the location and and storyline. We decided to change the story from a job interview to a girl going to get her eyebrows done by a beautician situated in college. This was much easier as less dialogue was needed and it was easier to use a variety of different shots. We started off by filming the girl walking and we did this by using a low-angle shot starting from her feet and filming up to her face as she walked. Then we did a close-up of the sign on the door so that the audience could see where she is going and what she is about to do. This could also be seen as point-of-view shot as we did a close-up of the girl's hand turning the door handle after she looked at the sign. We then filmed the beautician greeting her and asking her questions, this was an over-the-shoulder shot and when the beautician gave her reply to the girl we filmed over the beautician's shoulder which was another over-the-shoulder shot and kept in mind the 180 degree rule. We then filmed the girl getting her eyebrows done by the beatician and this was filmed in seperate shots. These shots included close-ups of her eyebrows getting done, zooms on her eyebrows, close-ups of the beautican and medium shots of the beautician and the girl. The final shots were of the beautician going to her desk, the girl paying her and walking towards the door, a close-up of the girl's hand turning the handle on the door and a medium shot of her walking out. When we went to edit the film, we again noticed that we had only used a very small variety of shots and the shots weren't continuous so there was a lot of jump-cutting between shots when we put the film together. We also realised that the film was one minute long when it was supposed to be only 30 seconds long, however we couldn't cut anything out otherwise the film wouldn't have made sense. If we were to do this again, we would make sure we used a much wider variety of shots, make sure the film wasn't too long by cutting dialogue and use more continuous shots for example film longer so that the film can be continous and have no jump-cutting when it comes to editing.

PRELIMINARY TASK SHOT LIST

These are the shots that we used in the Preliminary Task:

Long shots e.g when the girl was walking to the door

Medium shots e.g when the beautician was talking to the girl

Close ups e.g when the beautician was doing the girl's eyebrows (close-up on the eyebrows)

Zooms e.g when the beautician was doing the girl's eyebrows

These were only a small variety and we learnt that from not using these shots our film wasn't continuous.

Preliminary Task Video