Evaluation Task 3

Task 3

Malevolent Phantom

Directors Commentary

                

 

AMY: What does the production company do?  

A production company basically helps create the film by assisting with the budgeting, scripting, casting the characters and scheduling. They’re responsible for finding the right director and the characters with the talent required for the film however they’re also accountable if there are problems that affects the film e.g. the injuring of the main character. The production is involved with the film from the start until it’s fully completed.

CHLOE: The idea of a distribution and who that might be and why? 

A film distributor is responsible for marketing our film, they usually set the release date and where the film will be exhibited and viewed. They can make it public by releasing the film in the cinema or it can be viewed at home by releasing DVD. We decided that we wanted Warner Bros as the distributor for our film as it distributes worldwide and had financial success. They have had partnerships with independent horror film companies e.g. Hammer Films Production.  We chose Warner Bro Distribution Company because we believe that it would fit our film requirements than other institution and it has handled a lot of low budget films in the past.

CONOR: Where the money might have come from for a film such as yours

The UK Film Council will invest £20.2 million of public funds from the United Kingdom lottery into our film.

CONOR: Why the various people are named in the titles - which jobs appear in the titles and in what order and how have you reflected this? (CONOR)

The first name that appears is the main character “Chloe Hicks” then “Conor Nelson” as the supporting lead character.  Then the extra characters are introduced “Amy Knight & Rashmi Sen” The directors and producers names appears as they’ve filmed it. We researched some titles and found that the important roles of the films e.g. main characters are introduced first and the least important roles appears later on.

RASHMI: What is your film similar to institutionally (name some films which would be released in a similar way)

Institutionally our film is similar to Hammer Films Production because they are a British Film Company and specialised in the horror genre. This institution has a distribution partnership with successful studio such as the Warner Bro. Their success was due to the partnership which different   distribution company which lead to the Film Production with the financial success.

Woman in Black is similarly released as Hammer Films produced it then the film was distributed by Momentum Pictures which is an independent distribution company in the UK and Ireland.

Evaluation Task 2

                                                  Task 2                                                                                                Malevolent Phantom 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

    2015 Malevolent Phantom:                                           1996 Scream:

Both pictures above are similar, as they both share a naive and unintelligent young girl with an oblivious look on their face, the effectiveness of this absent gaze into mid air creates vulnerability as it suggests the aren't paying attention to the danger they could potentially be in, which definitely conforms to stereotypes of horror films. The reason both pictures share similar characteristics is because they are both horror genre.

Although facial expression share similarities, not every aspect of these pictures are the same, for example the clothing is very different as Scream is set inside a big lonely house therefore it would look silly and unrealistic to be wearing a big coat, but this isn't the case for Malevolent Phantom which shows the main character in a coat due to the setting being outside. 

Our films concept was "the fear of the unknown" which is simply giving the audience little information of the characters by using dark lighting and casting shadows so the audiences imagination starts to try and identify what could be happening, which usually results in the worst case scenario. This concept is obviously very popular and effective in the horror genre as it was present in 1996's "Scream" as well as "To Kill A Mockingbird" which dates back 55 years ago and is still present to this very day appearing in not only our opening, but famous films such as "Cabin In The Woods".

This opening of Scream is an example of how the camera would be used and how non diegetic sound would be used to create fear of the unknown,

Evaluation Task 1

Task 1 

Malevolent Phantom

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

 Out film starts off with a simple establishing shot to inform the audience as to where the location is. The effect of this shot shows the audience how isolated and lonesome the area is creating a tension straight away as secluded areas connote danger.

 This long shot suggests that the characters are insignificant compared to their surrounding  although as the characters walked closer to the camera it created a low angle shot giving these characters power, suggesting they have protection while in a group. During this shot we encounter a problem which was the shot seemed to be too lengthy creating a dreariness feel for the audience therefore we cut it down.

A lot of consideration went into the costumes for our main characters for example Chloe who played our main character wore a bright coat. We made this decision as we felt with a bright pink coat it would draw the audiences attention away from the other 2 actors (who are not important) and onto her. Our intentions were for the coat to be red to also connote danger, but we could not find a red coat therefore we settled for a bright pink one. Our group also did some research on horror genre opening titles as we didn't want them to appear as a different genre, therefore we decided on "ORATOR STD" as it is was similar to other horrors titles.The characters and location is this opening all conform to the stereotype of genre due to their being helpless and innocent teenage girls in the  middle of open space area vulnerable to danger.

This  close up shot of the our main characters face conforms to the genre as we discovered form our research and planning that close ups and extreme close ups are often used in horror films, this method of camera usage is effective as it draws the audience closer to the character. The shots before this cut between Lucy (all alone) and her friends leaving (together) and highlights clearly to the audience that she is on her own now, conforming  to the genre of having the main character alone in a secluded area. When certain scenes built up in suspense we would cut sharply by using diegetic sound to cut the tension - e.g. of a phone ringing. This keeps the audience on the edge wondering what's going to happen.

The picture above shows a long shot from 1993's classic 'Schindler's List', we considered this shot while filming our opening as we felt it looked very effective with the use of the little girls red coat as it attracts all the attention on her which was our aim for 'Lucy' and her vibrant pink coat. Both pictures symbolise innocence but still vulnerability as both these girl end up dying. This scene conforms to the genre conventions as it shows an innocent, young girl in the isolated settings of the woodlands. 

This is one of the small range of shots we have of the Malevolent Phantom as we planned to keep his identity hidden so the audience doesn't  know anything about him, therefore using their imagination and creating the fear of the unknown. The majority of shots are used to focus on Lucy as she is the main character that the audience know the most about. But in this shot attention is more directed on our Malevolent Phantom watching Lucy, in order to make it fear that our Malevolent Phantom is watching and stalking on Lucy we used an over the shoulder shot. We chose this shot over a point of view shot as its give the audience a taste of what the monster looks like, rewarding the audience for keeping their attention for so long. This creates more suspense by symbolizing how big and powerful the Malevolent Phantom is.

This medium shot blocks majority of the background therefore the audience feel on edge and there could potentially be someone or something hiding behind Lucy. This medium shot also offers a quick incite of how Lucy is feeling which through her use of facial expression is clear she is feeling scared and panicked. While this shot is happening diegetic rustling of the leaves are present this used so we could have an excuse for Lucy to pause which could have resulted in the Malevolent Phantom catching up to her. Giving the audience the uncertainty of is he going to be there? is he going to get her?

This shot demanded a lot of attention as different shots were good but then lacked effectiveness in other areas, for example using a close up would have shown Lucy's facial expressions, but cut out the Malevolent Phantom which would not be successful, also a long shot would have revealed too much setting taking attention away form the characters therefore we decided on a  medium shot as is offers a close enough shot of Lucy and her first encounter with the Malevolent Phantom. But still far enough away so the audience can clearly see the Malevolent Phantom and identify that he is close to Lucy. As soon as Lucy noticed the Malevolent Phantom non-diegetic music with a fast pace and loud volume starts as it mirrors how Lucy feels, as well as building up suspense for the audience. This build up is effective as from our audience research  we found most people enjoy and crave a chase scene. After all the suspense and quick tension the audience have experienced they are rewarded with mass excitement as a fast paced chase scene occurs, which is most likely what they anticipated from the beginning as is conforms to horror genre stereotypes.

During our editing process we changed a few things but us as a group felt this shot was the most importantly and well judged shot that we changed. This shot was originally longer, so we shortened it as it ended on mass suspense leaving the audience to decide what could have happened next making it look very dramatic. Also a problem with having the original longer shot it was hard to make the dragging back look very forceful as we didn't want to actually hurt our characters. For me and i'm sure rest of my group would strongly agree, this is my favourite shot of the whole opening as i feel it pieces together very well .

Malevolent Phantom - Bloopers

                         

Malevolent Phantom Opening

                




                

Editing Discussion

Editing Discussion

Malevolent Phantom

                       

Starring: Chloe Hicks and Rashmi Sen
Filmed by: Amy Knight 

During our editing process we came across a few miner problems but through group discussion and ideas we have happily come to the final version of our opening.

The problems included:

Shots being too long for example the walk through the woods and most importantly the ending shot of "Lucy" getting dragged away, We shortened that too build suspense.

We encountered a problem with music also due to copyright issues but we were also able to overcome that and add extra sound effects on top i.e. Phone ringing.

                         

On Location - Film Diary