Evaluation

Aims and Context – ‘Silent Village’

·         A short sequence from an imagined film showing the protagonist in danger

·         Uses the genre conventions of the horror genre, such as lose ups of facial expressions, and eerie suspenseful music.

·         Mainstream or indie spectator - Shown to a film festival spectator, also in the cinema

·         Audience groups – male or female, 15+ year olds (therefore Certificate 15) as it contains material likely to scare and possibly some violence and mild language spoken amongst teenage characters.

·         Cinematography – close ups of facial expressions, conventional  slow tracking shots to follow exploration. Quicker paced shots to suggest fright and/or a sense of danger, canted angles are also used to create these ideas.

I have produced a short sequence from an imagined film entitled “Silent Village” based around a series of disappearances in a small unsuspecting village whose residents would not suspect a possible murder or kidnap. With this concept in mind, I tried to produce a sequence showing that teenagers can think outside of the box and succeed to a large, perhaps exaggerated extent. The reason for my protagonists being teenagers is being influenced by mainstream horror film directors and therefore I intended for this to be viewable by a teenage spectator (anyone aged 15 or over). In this evaluation I will cover the influences for my film as well as how it appeals to its target audience, with reference to the themes and stylistic features used.

One of my main influences for this “Silent Village” sequence is director Gore Verbinski. His work on the 2002 film “The Ring”, particularly the opening sequence in which Katie faces a series of strange events after watching a supposedly cursed videotape, which climaxes in her death.  The shots used during this sequence, which consist mainly of canted angles, close ups and tracking shots, are the kind of shots I wished to achieve with my sequence. The character’s exploration would occasionally be interrupted by strange noises, such as loud echoed howls, as well as thunder and lightning, that appear to be coming from elsewhere in the house. The cinematography I have used therefore consists of close up shots to show the character’s reaction to this, and to provoke a frightened response from my target spectator. The suspense is what I wished to achieve with the sequence as the scene is the pivotal point in the film which determines whether Demetria can live to share her discovery of the antagonist or if she will fall victim as well. The mindset of not knowing what is going to happen is what I wanted to invoke, and I attempted this through the use of tracking shots and eerie noises, but not showing the antagonist, suggesting it could be anywhere.

Also, horror films such as “Final Destination” and “Scream” convinced me to include a narrative which revolves closely around a group of protagonists who are of a similar age, but share different characteristics. This helps to make the outcome of the investigation more unpredictable. Another good reason for putting a heavy focus on the protagonists is that it creates a mystery as to who the antagonist is, so that we know just as much (or as little) as the characters do, especially since the antagonist will not appear until much later in the film. This allows my spectator to be able to engage with and relate to the characters (as different personalities will also appeal to different members of the spectator) in the film. It is more difficult to create suspense in a film if we are introduced to the antagonist early on the film, and in my opinion, this could reduce the chance it has of succeeding as its intention of being a horror film.

In order to add to the essence of exploring an unknown supposedly cursed environment, I decided that my character would be using a flashlight to explore during the sequence. One problem that I faced whilst filming inside the house is the difficulty of achieving a good quality of lighting prior to the flashlight being switched on that wasn’t too bright(as it is supposed to be dark), but wasn’t too dark either so that we wouldn’t be able to see what’s happening properly. In the end, I used a light in the house so increase the visibility. The light in question is not in shot as the intention was that there would be no functioning lights in the house. If I was to make a sequence such as this again, I would be sure to put more thought into how I would manage the lightning in a supposedly dark haunted house.

In terms of editing, I found it an easy task to sort through the shots and put them in order, seeing as the majority of the sequence was recorded in my intended order to make the procedure quicker and simpler for myself. During filming, I also tried different versions of the same shot as well as different takes in case something that didn’t quite feel right occurred during the shot. This is so that I would have more to experiment with, allowing me to decide which attempts I preferred and how they would fit in with the remainder of the sequence. This procedure also reduces the chances of needing to re-shoot, as feedback of the shots from others may garner alternate opinions to my own in terms of the shots they prefer.

I went through a long process of deciding on the most suitable piece of music to use for my sequence. It would have to reflect the thoughts and emotions of the character as she explores the area to be suitable. In the end I decided on the opening section of the Dream Theater song “Octavarium”. It consists of an eerie-sounding Continuum and lap steel guitar solo which builds suspense to segue into the main part of the song. In my sequence it was serve to build suspense up to the ambiguous conclusion of the sequence which implies that the character is being attacked by the antagonistic force she has been searching for. At this point it is unknown what her fate will be.

In conclusion, I feel as though in some ways, I have accomplished what I set out to achieve. I successfully used tracking camera shots to follow my character as well as including loud eerie noises when appropriate. In other ways, I feel that I could have done better, as the initial lighting in the house isn’t darker as I intended it to be. I also feel as though I could have used a crane to improve the smoothness of some shots. I also learned a lot during post production, such as how to use colour filters effectively to create the illusion of night time or a cold, windy environment.

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