Evaluation Activity 1: Conventions of the Genre

We wanted to express the horror genre through the use of costume and makeup, sound and setting. The costume for the antagonist is all black, ensuring her identity is hidden. We used black paint to cover her hands and she wore a black hoodie to make sure the audience doesn't know who she is. This creates intrigue as the audience do not know who this is and will want to know more about who is killing the group and why. The costumes of Alex and Harriet's characters are relatively normal in order to relate to the audience better and show that it is just a regular day. This increases the tension as the audience can see that it is not a regular day as Sammie is following Harriet. We used special effects makeup on Harriet at the end to show her head injury which ultimately kills her. This is effective as it is not too gruesome, to ensure the film fits within the 15 rating we want, but it gets the message across that she is injured and someone is in the school killing people. This adds fear and suspense to the intrigue felt by the audience.

The sound we used throughout the film is quite spooky as it uses minor keys to create an eerie tune. We added this throughout Harriet's scenes and lowered it slightly when we added a classic horror boom to particularly important parts, such as when her phone is stolen. We took it away during the conversations in the scenes with the friendship group and this helped to highlight the fact that Harriet was the one in danger. Harriet's scenes are dominated with the silence and the spooky music whereas Alex's scenes are full of laughter and conversation - showing not only the contrast between the characters, with Harriet liking to keep to herself and Alex liking to be a part of something bigger, but also foreshadowing the mysterious death of Harriet.

The empty setting of the school is unusual as it is normally quite busy. This makes the audience uncomfortable from the beginning as they know something is going to happen to the girl that is all alone. The school is relatable to the target audience and shows them the basis for the characters as pupils and the film as an eerie killer inside a school, which is every student and parent's nightmare. 

Evaluation Activity 1: Conventions of the Story

We start out with a medium shot of one main character and focusing on her, so the audience can assume that she is the protagonist throughout the film. The use of a girl as the protagonist is subverting conventions for horror films, yet we conform to them later on when she gets killed - as the blonde teenage girl all alone is always the first to die in horror films. We chose a more conservative character for Harriet, which is unconventional as it is usually a more unintelligent girl that gets killed first. This heightens the fear and dread throughout the film.

The regular setting of a school helps to show the audience the normality to contrast with the killings. A school is unassuming and usually not empty, making the film more mysterious as the audience wonders why no one is around. The audience can see how Harriet's character is quite studious where her friends are not but the film also shows the relationship between them as Alex seems worried that she is not answering her phone. However, the audience can also see that the killer and Harriet have some kind of relationship due to the fact that she is being targeted.

The way we hid the antagonist's identity through the costume increased the tension and suspense throughout the film as the audience wonders who is killing off the group of friends. If the audience found out who the antagonist was straight away, it would decrease the tension and the film wouldn't be an effective horror/thriller film. It creates enigmas with the audience about the motive and about who would be next and why. This creates intrigue to continue to watch the film.

We subverted conventions by killing a character in the opening two minutes. This doesn't normally happen in horror films but we felt this would increase the tension and would be an effective cliff-hanger ending before the rest of the film. A cliff-hanger ending is conventional for an opening two minutes as it leaves the audience wanting more and leaves them intrigued for the rest of the film. It leaves them asking questions about what has happened and what is going to happen and makes them want to watch the rest to find out.

Evaluation Activity 1: Conventions of the Font and Style of Titles

For our titles throughout the film, we used quite a traditional font to contrast the main title. We didn't want all the fonts to be the same as we felt it would be too much and not easy to read. We also didn't want to distract from the actual film or for it to be too over-the-top - we wanted it to look clean and neat. We added a smear effect to the end of the fonts to make it look scarier and look like it was being dragged down the screen.  Fading the titles in also made it look smooth and flowed better. Effects on the titles are conventional of horror films as they add effect and hint to the overall genre; a smear effect is particularly common as it creates an eerie feeling and possibly foreshadows some kind of death or torture in the film.

We made the font white as we felt this looked better with the locations and that black would stand out too much and take away from the film. The white made them look subtle and neat within the scenes. They are in capitals to make sure they stand out and look professional. Capitals for fonts are conventional of horror films as it is bold, intense and are easy to read. 

Evaluation Activity 1: Conventions of Camerawork and Editing

In our film, we tried to use a range of camera angles and editing techniques. We used match cutting, which helps to focus on significant parts without disrupting the flow, as we zoomed in on some parts - for example, when Harriet pushes on the door and Sammie follows straight after. The use of match cutting here helped to focus on the fact that Sammie is following her without showing her full body pushing on the door as this would give her identity away. These types of shots and this type of editing technique, as well as shots like extreme close ups etc., are conventional of horror films as they heighten the tension and suspense within the scene.  

The use of the over-the-shoulder mirror shot towards the end of the film, gives the first slight look at the antagonists face. This shot is effective as it shows the audience that someone is following her and makes them worried for what might happen next yet, through the use of dramatic irony, the victim doesn't notice anyone there. We split this scene up with cuts from the toilet to Alex in the study room. This helps to build tension and quicken the pace of the scene. We also used match cutting as Sammie walks across the room. This shows the audience the setting and hints at the room being empty, somewhere where no one is going to see anything happen - a convention of killings in horror films as no one is a witness or knows what happened. A fast-pace is also conventional in horror films as it builds tension and fear effectively whilst also showing the audience that something bad is going to happen.

Evaluation Activity 1: Conventions of the Costume and Props

For Alex and Harriet's characters, we decided to use normal clothing to ensure their costumes were unsuspecting and were easy to relate to as everyday clothes. This makes the audience see them as regular people and enables the audience to see the film as if the events were happening to them as we wanted the costumes to mirror everyday life. This, with the setting, further encourages an unsuspecting, everyday nature in the film. However, for Sammie's character, we wanted to ensure she was hidden and no one could see who she was. This is conventional in horror films as they do not want to give away the killer in the first two minutes. In order to keep her identity hidden, Sammie wore a black hoodie with the hood up, black trousers and painted her hands with black paint to imitate gloves. The black clothing gave the impression of a shadow following Harriet, which relates to other supernatural aspects of horror films. The hidden identity of the antagonist is conventional as it creates fear and suspense for the audience and a bit of irony as the protagonist does not see the antagonist, but the audience does.

We didn't use many props that were specifically for the plot, but the important way we did use props are through the phones. Harriet's is taken which is the first sign of the antagonist in the film. This is added to when Alex tries to phone her and she doesn't pick up. The use of technology makes the film more relatable to our target audience. In horror films a convention is that the technology surrounding the victim is the first thing to act up, signalling that something is wrong. This is why we chose to steal the phone as it indirectly signifies that something bad is going to happen to Harriet's character. 

Evaluation Activity 1: Conventions of the Setting

We wanted to use a normal, unsuspecting location for our film. We chose to film it in school for this reason. This helps make it more relatable to the target audience by showcasing a well-known and relatively normal location as well as creating a simple backdrop to not take away from our horror film. It shows the regular things that the characters and the audience would do on an everyday basis, further making easier to relate to.

We started the film with a scene in a computer room to show the setting of the school but also to show the hardworking nature of the character early on in the film. The tennis courts in the background of the outside scenes also help to show the school location without having a specific establishing shot. The unusual emptiness of the scenes with Harriet contrasts what it is normally like at a school and contrasts the scenes with Alex and the big group of friends in. This makes the audience suspicious and wonder why it is so empty, why Harriet is on her own and who the other people are to her. The toilet scene is much like the others as we wanted to create an eerie vibe by making it completely desolate. The toilets are where the audience watching are able to relate as it is common to go and check outfits, hair and makeup etc. during the day. The fact that it is empty further highlights the mysteriousness of the school and makes the murder even more dramatic and tense as no one (including any cameras) would have witnessed the murder. 

This mysteriousness conforms to conventions of horror films as murders don't usually happen in built up, busy areas. The regular setting is also a convention of horror films as many filmmakers want to make their films relatable to the audience, but still have a slight horror aspect to them. We did this through ensuring the scenes with Harriet in were empty. A lack of establishing shot is also common as it creates a mysterious edge as the audience don't know exactly where the film is taking place and can only infer where it is. 

Evaluation Activity 1: Conventions of the Title

Above is a screenshot of the title at the end of our opening two minutes. We decided to call our film 'Regretful Sins' as we think this would relate to the overall story and creates a mysterious and vague feeling for the audience in order to not give the film plot away, even though we used many conventions of horror films within the opening. We decided to put the title at the end of the opening two minutes as we felt it would be more dramatic and flow better by breaking up the opening and the rest of the film rather than putting it right at the beginning. The font is quite uneven and disjointed, creating an eerie look which conforms to the horror genre and having it all in capital letters and white on a black background, makes it stand out at the audience - further encouraging a mysterious and eerie feeling in the audience whilst showing that it is a horror film. We added a glow effect at the end to highlight on the mysterious and supernatural nature of the film. It also means it will create even more of a statement against the black background before fading out into the rest of the film. This will make it memorable to the audience.

Our title is similar to other horror films such as 'Drag Me to Hell' as this is also stands out to the audience. The font is easy to read and looks quite ancient with small cracks on the letters, relating to the overall mystery and superstition in the film. This font is quite conventional of the horror genre as it is bold and in the audience's face. The capital letters help to make it look bold and alarming, however the use of the different sizes helps to emphasize the words 'drag' and 'hell' - the most important words in the title to describe the film. This choice of words for the title hints at the genre and plot of the film. The title gets bigger within the screen to add tension and then an immediate extreme close up makes it look like the words are flying towards the audience, much the same as the aggressive nature of the demons in the film. The title is at the end of the opening two minutes, as we have done with our film, to create tension and suspense.

Audience Feedback

Presenting our Production

Final Opening Two Minutes: 'Regretful Sins'

Editing Day 7

On the seventh day, we added the finishing touches to our opening. This included re-watching it to make sure we were happy with how it all fit together, moving parts around to make it flow better, adding in the final titles and making sure the music was in the right place before uploading it to YouTube. 

Editing Day 6

On the sixth day, we began to add in the titles for our film. We wanted to make sure these looked professional and effective in where we put them. This meant it took us a while to decide where to put them in relation to the video and audio. We used the fade in effects and smear effect to add a horror vibe to the titles and to make sure they went smoothly into the film. Towards the end, we only had a few left to put in which meant we had to think carefully where we did and didn't want the titles. We thought about the size of the titles too as we made them slightly smaller to avoid them distracting from the video.