Evaluation - Question 1

Evaluation - Question 1

For our final idea we created a title sequence and the beginning scene of it. We planned a Gothic Horror genre of film to create as we believed that we could create this in an effective way by ensuring we kept to the codes and conventions of a Gothic Horror film.

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

In our film we focused on the codes and conventions of a Gothic Horror to create the right effect on the audience to capture the Gothic Horror genre. Throughout our work we used a large variety of codes and conventions of a Gothic Horror film. The main code and convention we focused on was the makeup of the bride. 
Through the opening sequence, the bride has two different sets of makeup, the first one is what the audience will see first, when she is sorting her hair out for her wedding, within this section the bride has natural makeup which a traditional bride would have at their wedding we done this to show a code and convention of a happy romantic scene of the bride getting ready and her looking at her best for her 'big day'. The photograph on the top shows the makeup which the bride had during the scenes of her being alive. The photograph shows that she looks natural for her wedding and that her makeup has been done neatly and it looks professional for a wedding, then after the bride has been killed her makeup changes (shown in the bottom image) and it turns towards the Gothic Horror genre of makeup as we had to show that the bride had been killed and we created a large cut on her neck by using fake blood and dark eye shadow to create the horrific cut onto the brides neck to show how she had been killed. This photograph shows the transformation from a traditional bride to a murdered woman who was killed on her wedding day.

For the use of costume within our final piece we chose different costumes for the different characters shown within the film. For example, for the bride we ensured that she was wearing a white dress through the process of filming it for the typical white wedding dress which is worn by typical brides. Unfortunately, we could not find a long white dress which would have looked better than the short dress which we used. This is the white dress which we used for the filming process which the character wore. The dress shows that it was pure white with a little detail around the chest area. We would have liked to have a long dress for the film but we could not find one so we had to use the short dress which I found when I was shopping. For the groom, we ensured that he was in a suit to fit in with the traditional groom at a wedding.

 On the day of filming the actor behind the groom forgot his jacket so we had to film without him in the full suit so we filmed him doing his tie so the jacket will not be needed within that shot. We chose for the brides sister to have two different costumes within the film do show that there was a time frame between the two shots as if the character was wearing the same clothes of the day of her death and five years late when she is haunting her and her boyfriend after her death. For the wedding scene we chose for the sister to have a white shirt which also had little patterns on it and as well as dark trousers to portray that it wasn't a full formal wedding as well as the bride in a short dress.  The setting also made the wedding look like it took place in a hotel or a low budget destination. For the scenes after the death, which are shown five years after the brides death the brides sister is in similar clothing as she is in a white shirt with a blue vest top underneath as well as dark trousers to show that the character hasn't changed much over the years that her sister has been gone.This could have been a sign of guilt as she doesn't want to change herself due to what she had planned for her sisters wedding day. For the killers costume we wanted him to have a black hooded jumper to hide his face during the killing so that the audience would be peeled and would want to continue watching the film as it is only the opening sequence. We then decided to have the killer in a black hooded jumper for the scene which was five years after the bride’s death in order to be able to hide the face of the killer when talking to the bride’s sister who knew about the kill. We decided to do this to make the character look guilty of what he had done and he feels like he cannot move on with this life due to what damage he has caused to the family. Overall, the costumes all had different meanings to them that also met the stereotype of the traditional white wedding.

Within the film all the characters had set hairstyles that would match with their character. For example, we decided for the bride to have her hair curled in order to make it look like she had gone to a big effort of having her hair done for her wedding day so that it would make the film look more realistic (photo to the left).  After the bride had been killed we made a mess of the characters hair in order to achieve the ‘dead look’ we done this by back combing the hair to make it messy and like it hadn't been brushed in a while, also trying to keep the curl effect on the hair of the bride (photo to the right).

For the groom we decided for him to have his normal hair which he would have for college but made more neat and tidy, he ensured this by getting his hair cut a little bit in order to put it into the correct position we wanted for the film. But for the bride’s sister we wanted a more natural hairstyle so we decided for the bride’s sister to have her hair up in a neat pony tail. This was to not draw attention to a bold hairstyle which would take it off the bride while getting ready and when talking to her sister’s killer. For the killers hairstyle it was hidden by either the hood or the hat which he wore which help hide his identity when killing the bride and talking to the brides sister five years after her death. But when the killer and the bride’s sister are walking down the road he has his hat and hood down and you can see that he has messy hairstyles which are effective as he was shown as a murderer. 

Throughout our title sequence we played around with the color's on the film. For example when the film starts it has a brown effect over the camera so that it makes the film look old.  But during the process of the bride being killed it is in black and white which creates tension for the audience and it will make it more enjoyable.

We also done this as we thought it looked best against the blood work on the bride’s neck as she is being killed. During the scene of the brides killer and the brides sister talking in the roof to we kept the color the original one to see that it is a nice day and that they do not suspect anything is going to happen as it looks natural and that nothing bad could possibly happen.

We kept it like this outside when they started to walk as we believed it would look effective and as soon as the two characters walked of the camera frame the color of the frame instantly faded down to make the bride look more white as she was walking towards the camera in the direction that the other two characters walked in. 





During the brides walk down to the camera we created a flicker so that it effect on the frame would change as the deceased bride walked closer to the camera. The two photos show the different effects we used for the walk scene. 

The use of props within our final piece was extremely important as it would have been hard to create out film without the props we used, such as the weapon we used to kill the bride – a knife. We used a knife to create the cut on the bride’s neck in order for it to look realistic. But due to how close the knife would be to the actor’s neck we decided not to use a sharp knife for the health and safety of the actor behind the bride. We thought using a real knife would be good so they the audience sense that it the knife is going to kill the bride. Another prop we used was the brides dress as we was able to cover the dress in blood and eye shadow to create a death affect on the dress this looked effective as it shows that she has been dead many years.

Our whole film was set at the location of Bitterne Park Sixth Form, we chose to film it here in order to use the cameras from the college, and this meant we could get good film footage due to the high graphics on the cameras. Due to the facilities and the new build we was able to film the wedding scene with the sixth form building which meant we did not need to find a new destination to be able to film the wedding and killing scenes.





We also chose to film outside of the Sixth Form building next to the road in order to make the film look realistic as cars was passing like it was an ordinary day for the couple who are just taking a walk without knowing that there is a ghost behind them haunting them.

We also used many different camera shots when filming our final piece, the two main ones we focused on was an Over the Shoulder shot and a Close Up. This is because we believed they showed the codes and conventions of a gothic horror genre. This is an example of an over the shoulder shot we used we decided to do this so that you could see the costume of the groom as he is getting ready and you an see the back of his suit while also being able to see him doing his with in the mirror. 


Additionally, we used close ups during the killing of the bride and after it happened, we done this by focusing on the cut of the brides neck by creating a close up of the cut. We also used a close up on the knife after the bride had been killed as you could see the knife still covered in the brides blood. 


Another shot which we used which I thought was effective was the Long Shot of the bride walking towards the camera and slowly became an Extreme Close Up due to the bride coming right into the camera which formed an extreme close up.

I believe that this looked effective as the audience was able to see the full face of the bride once she had been killed as in the scenes before the walk they are from a distance and the audience could not see the brides face as we wanted the bride to be in the background of the sister and the killer.

From the use of the different types of editing for the film matches the codes and conventions of a gothic horror due to the jumpy editing in the last scene of the opening sequence. As when the bride is walking we changed the effect on the footage which caused the footage to jump and flash different colours which is stereotypically what happens in a haunted house. We created this affect in order to achieve the haunted theme within out film to create the codes and conventions of a gothic horror.

During the bride being killed we had music playing over it as well as diegetic sound from when the bride hit the floor after her neck had been cut by the killer. This showed that the bride did fall to the floor after her death which makes it look more realistic to the members of the audience. We also used a soundtrack to play over the background of the film in order to create the mystery effect on the film. By doing this I believe we made the film look effective as we faded out the music in the correct scenes in order to be able to hear the dialogue between the bride’s sister and the bride’s killer as it then becomes clear of why the bride was killed and that the killer was going to be the bride’s brother in law. This showed that the killing was for the bride’s sister to receive more attention from their father. After the talk is over the couple decide to go for a walk and as the couple walk and the killer passes a wooden post the deceased bride appears from behind the killer and remains there until the next shot. When this happened the music started again to show that the conversation about the bride’s death was over and they wanted to move on from it. At the end of the film when the bride’s face appears in the frame for an extreme close up there is a sting which ends the title sequence.

Our film matches the different codes and conventions of a typical gothic horror as the use of makeup is strong in order to be able to create the death look on the bride aswell as the use of hair and setting which showed the different use of the codes and conventions of a gothic horror. We also used the camera in a hand held position to create a gothic horror theme to the film. For example within horror and gothic horror films there are a lot of hand held shots as this creates an edgy and unfinished look which makes the audience start to speculate that something is about to happen and builds tension for the members of the audience.

I believe that the costume and the makeup of the bride met the specific conventions because her whole appearance changed from when she was alive to after she had died. We had to change the appearance of the bride after she had died to fit with the different codes and conventions of a gothic horror to ensure that our film met the genre requirements. 

Overall, throughout our planning and creation of our film of 'The Woman In White' we matched, used and challenged different codes and conventions of the gothic horror genre. Due to this I believe that we made a successful opening sequence to a film.