My Evaluation

I worked in a group of three with me, Sophie Scott and Matthew Hart

I took specific responsibility for the storyline of the opening, the identity of the production company and the audience feedback of our film opening

We made a thriller film opening entitled Banshee

The genre of our film paranormal/horror

In order to make a good opening I researched existing horror films so I could get a good feel of the project. Some of the films I researched into were:

Blair Witch Project Grave Encounters 28 Weeks LaterThese films gave me a feel of the horror

genre, on top of giving the group ideas for events and camera angles in our film opening.

For film openings I used the website www.theartofthetitle.com. This website was very helpful to see what good horror movies contain in their openings. I looked especially deep into three movies:

28 Weeks Later Zombieland HalloweenBy watching these openings I could get

ideas for what my group could use in our horror film opening. Camera angles and sound effects were looked at specifically.

Audience profile: our target audience is likely to be both genders aged between 15-30, but more on the male side, as the opening is of the horror genre.

They are likely to have seen these films recently: Halloween (dir. 2007)Zombieland (dir. Fleischer,2009), Shutter Island (dir. Scorcese, 2010) Inception (2010, Nolan), or other famous and recent horror films.

They are likely to go to the cinema once or twice a month as well as see films on DVD and downloads on their computers at home

Audience figures show how popular the horror genre is. Box office returns for films similar to mine show the following figures (source Box Office Mojo): Shutter Island ($294,803,014);

On our next slide is our audience profile

Opening - The opening itself is that of the horror genre. It includes a false alarm, which will get the audience uneasy, but then make them feel as they can relax, when actually there is more danger to come.

Titles – Our title will have a moving background, with a dark scene. This will give the audience a sense of unease from the very start of our film.

Mise-en-scene (locations) – For our location we decided to use a local park, as it gives an ‘innocent’ feel to our film when there is actually a danger lurking in the place of innocence. By using a realistic location we have made the audience almost believe that the events in our film actually happened.

Costumes – For our costumes most of the characters used general and casual clothing as that was the role of which they were playing. The banshee however wore a long, flowing night dress, and hair covering her face to give a sense of mystery to the character. We also made the banshee hold an old, battered and scruffy teddy bear to give her a bigger look of innocence.

SFX – For our sound effects we used a voice over when people were talking in order to get a better sound when the audience are watching and they can hear what is being said more clearly.

Sound – We used a variety of sound effects including a heartbeat sound for when one of the characters faints because of the banshee. This sound will add tension.

Music – We used certain music for our opening, that was that of the horror genre. Our main music track is titled ‘Graveyard Theme’ which is perfect as our film includes spirits and paranormal events.

Atmosphere – For our film we aimed to create an atmosphere that was as tense as possible. We have used a slow, creepy music, which will add to the atmosphere. We have also made the majority of the opening darkened which will also create a scarier look to the film opening.

Suspense enigma – For our film opening suspense was key. Without a certain degree of suspension the whole film opening would not work. We made this through music, darkness and a false alarm in the film opening.

From these screenshots taken from YouTube and Facebook, the audience feedback is easily shown and you can see people’s opinions on our film opening.

As the feedback is generally positive, it shows that our film opening was very successful as a whole.

For this project I feel like our film opening went extremely well. By using a mix of counter partings such as the white night gown along with the teddy bear in one hand. This created a ‘spooky’ effect within the opening title sequence.

Our project was slow to get going, but when it got up and running I feel that it went quite well. We used some good props in our opening and the special effect used were very good too. I feel like this film opening will reflect well with the brief that we were given at the start of the project.