Evaluation

Media conventions


In my production I both enhanced and challenged typical media conventions with my characters. My main villains were females instead of males, and this challenges the convention that females are defenceless victims and are preyed on by males. It is also being challenged as usually female vampires are brides or servants of Dracula and mine are not. By challenging this convention I also play into the growing number of subverted films. I however enhanced conventions by having my female vampires be dressed in revealing outfits. Another enhancement made is that, following popular stereotypes within horror films, a black male is the first person in my film to die. My audience, as a fan of horror films, will recognise this convention and relate to it. 


Elements of my opening that use common conventions of horror were my lighting and sound. I used an atmospheric song throughout the actual film to create tension and atmosphere, then a song chosen specifically for its lyrics. The lyrics link in to the religious horror theme that intertwines with vampire films by talking about heaven and hell. My film is shot in black and white to show it was in the past, and this reflects some of the most classic vampire movies are from the 1920's and 1930's and would have been in black and white. Having footage in monochrome also accentuates the shadows that would not have been so obvious for the aura of the film. The film is also set in a graveyard, something very typical of a vampire film.


Some of my shots are those typical of a horror film, such as point of view shots, tracking shots and over the shoulder shots. However, as shooting time was limited I was not able to get in other conventional shots, such as high and low angle shots. I also intended to have a worms eye view of my victim being followed by one of the vampires but the location prevented me from doing so as it had rained earlier in the day. The rain also made me change the ending of the piece from the victim being forced to his knees so that the vampires could feed from him to them leading him to the bench, which didn't have the same scary effect. Unfortunately we had to complete the shoot in one day so I couldn't complete the sequence on another night, due to conflicting schedules.

New technologies


The start of the project was when technology started getting involved. The blog was set up on Blogger, something I had not used previously as my blog is a Tumblr account and was unsuitable for the purposes of my coursework. PCs I am very familiar with, however, and had my account set up quickly. I personally found the site easy to manoeuvre and it was only a lack of time that kept me from decorating my blog with gadgets and pictures.


At the start of the shoot I was using my own personal camera, a Hitachi DZHV1074 camcorder, shooting specifically in black and white. However part way through the shoot the camcorder battery died. This was my own fault as I had used it the night before and hadn't checked that the battery still had enough charge. Because of our tight shooting schedule, we had to complete filming on a camera phone, specifically an iPhone 4S. This had both advantages and disadvantages; the picture was better lit on the phone, but there was less stabilisation since we couldn't use the tripod any more. With my resources lighting was also an issue because the onboard halogen light on my camera was not strong enough to light what I needed it for, meaning some shots are almost too dark for the action to be seen. When filming our next project, if darkness is involved then I will make sure to have torches and other lighting sources readily available.

Importing my footage to my home PC so I could sort through it all was simple as I film in a digital format. To transport it to the iMac computers we were using in college to edit on it was a matter of putting it on a USB stick and importing it from that onto the iMac.

While at college there was an issue in regards to saving the footage in iMovie as a new event. I'm familiar with the workings of Apple software but I'd never used the version of iMovie currently installed at the college. As the iMacs are on a different network to the main student drive, we didn't know that for our work to be fully saved it had to be on the student disk; the memory on the iMacs isn't enough for all students so they have a deep freeze setting that wipes the iMacs onboard hard drive whenever it gets rebooted. This problem, for me at least, was resolved by a quick tutorial in saving from the college IT technician. 

Once I had overcome the saving issue I had to re-edit all of my film as most of it had been done in the lesson before the tutorial. In the tutorial lesson I constructed my title sequence, ready for the end of my production. The re-edit did not take very long, considering most of my footage followed what I had designed on my storyboard. My main problem was how to construct an element of fear having used actors who were not very good and spent most of the shoot corpsing. In hindsight I should have scripted the scene better and chosen people who were more serious about what they were doing.




Target audience

My original target audience was white males aged 18-24. Despite the fact that my male character in the opening sequence has changed ethnicity, I don't feel like this has changed my audience. I think this for two key reasons. The first is that this is only the opening sequence, and that what happens in it may be the set up for the rest of the film but is not a full definition of the contents, especially as the villains are white: this proves that my production is not a "black" film. My other reason for this thought process is that traditionally in horror films the first male victim is usually black. This would help my target audience feel more like they understand the film.

Within the production there are elements that define my audience. The plot and subgenre are key. Vampire films, especially those that involve seductive female vampires, have always had an appeal to men, and my plot involves two seductive and usually scantily clad female vampires. The sound is also key to identifying the audience in that many males in my target audience, being part of the "Goth" and "emo" scene, would listen to metalcore and would recognise the second part of the sound used. Other males, such as nerds who enjoy more role play games and fantasy that make up my audience are more likely to recognise the alternative rock aspect of the sound, as Queens Of The Stone Age are very popular in their subgenre of music.




Representation


One of the social groups represented in my production are young black men. The media in general tends to portray young black men in a negative light as gangsters and thugs, especially those from urban areas.  In my production this stereotype has been subverted as the young black men in my opening sequence are the victims and not the aggressors. However this is not always a complete subversion as a common stereotype in horror films, as I have mentioned previously, is that a black male is usually first to die. 



Another social group represented are the "geeks" who are interested in science fiction and fantasy. They are represented in that a very common figure for them to lust after is the female vampire, a notorious Gothic sex symbol. However the main group represented are females. Traditionally they have been seen as the weaker sex and have always been portrayed as the victim by the media. The females in my production are part of a growing number of self actualised, independent women being shown in the media. They fend for themselves and don't rely on a man's help. This is significant because despite the fact that we live in a post feminist society, females are still discriminated against and judged primarily on their looks and ability to clean and bear children.






Institution


I chose 20th Century Fox to be my production company as they are the largest multinational media conglomerate. They own Harper Collins, which is significant as my production is "based on a true story". If the novel I have claimed to have adapted for my film (which is actually non existent) was published by Harper Collins it would be easier to get the film adaptation created. In hindsight I should have used the Fox Searchlight vignette because where my film has a more limited target audience than a traditional horror film and would be made for a lower budget.




Pregression from the preliminary task


I feel I have progressed from my preliminary in that I was more used to filming in different shots than I was when I took GCSE Media. My preliminary used match on action, something I had not used before, and also used the 180 degree rule in a conversation. I had never used the continuity rule either, although I knew of it. I also regained my knowledge of using the tripod as it had been a while since I'd used one; whenever I used my camera at home I put it on a stack of books instead. 

Sound

My opening is going to only contain non-diagetic sound. This is partly because my filming location is a generally busy and therefore loud part of Hackney and it would be near impossible to get perfect sound quality with my resources. my other reason is that the song I have chosen (Spiders and Vinegaroons by Queens Of The Stone Age - the top video) is an instrumental that generates an eerie feel. This will be playing as the main action of the scene happens with the characters. After, as the title sequence is playing, I have chosen to use an extract from Bring Me The Horizon song "Crucify Me" (the bottom song) for two reasons. The first is the title; vampires are repelled by religious paraphernalia, including crucifixes. The second reason is that the extract repeats the lines "There is a hell believe me I've seen it, there is a heaven let's keep it a secret" over and over in a ghostly, choir-like way. As vampires are said to be the children of the Devil, I think that this extract fits in with my theme and genre perfectly.

Mis-En Scene

Costume and Make-Up:

My film is set in the present day, so the costumes will be modern clothing. Nothing is known about the male character as he "dies" in this scene, but he will be wearing clothes typical of an inner city teenager. My vampires will not be dressed so typically and will instead have a more Gothic look about them. The more seductive one will have a very revealing outfit on in order to attract her prey, while the scarier one is dressed slightly more modestly. Both will be wearing black in order to emphasise their pale skin. I chose this theme for them to wear as vampires are traditionally the most Gothic characters, especially with the Victorian dress commonly associated with them.

In regards to make-up, my vampires will not be heavily made up as they have an unearthly but captivating beauty about them. Make up may extend to some light eyeliner for the "emo" or "Goth" look, red seductive lipstick, and to make them look slightly paler, foundation  slightly lighter than my actresses' natural skin tone.

Despite being a horror opening the death of my male victim will not be shown. Because of this there will be no blood shown on the victim or vampires. However, because false fangs will not be worn, to further the fact that these women are vampires I may put some (edible) fake blood on the naturally sharp teeth of the seductive vampire and show it in the close up of her teeth. To make them look even scarier the possibility of dabbing fake blood at the corner of their mouths is open. That can also confirm to the audience that they are vampires.

Lighting:

Because my opening will be shot in monochrome to hint it happened in the past, I will have to pay extra attention to the lighting. Because of this I will not be able to shoot in the graveyard I wanted to as there are no light sources. Shadow will also be something I have to pay close attention to because the film will not be as effective if the viewer is unable to actually see what is happening.

Setting:

My scene will be in the St John-at-Hackney Graveyard. Although setting a horror movie in a graveyard is a cliche, the majority of vampire films have scenes set in graveyards and this is usually because vampires have to sleep in coffins during the day. By using this cliche in the opening of my film, I can establish a recurring location, possibly one as the vampires' lair or main hunting ground as the graveyard is used as a shortcut by many people.


Character performance:

As there is no dialogue in my scene, the way the characters present and hold themselves is very important so that the viewer can determine what is happening. Vampires are supposed to move very gracefully, so they are almost flying and this is something that I shall have my actors try to impersonate. They will also have to move their bodies somewhat seductively to accentuate any parts that my male viewers will find attractive. My male character will also have to try to act very helpless to the over-the-top seduction of him and also appear scared, despite his large stature.

Props:


There will be no active props in the scene as I do not want to detract from the simplicity of the scenario. The props will instead be parts of the characters bodies accentuated by close-ups; specifically the eyes, hands and teeth. I have chosen the eyes as eye colour is distorted by black and white footage and they show lots of emotion, which adds to the realistic feel of the story and also draws my viewer in. The close ups of the hands show the control the females have over the male, both in strength and willpower, and the shots of the teeth tell the audience that the characters are vampires and hint at what is about to happen.

Subversion and Representation

Subversion is defined in the dictionary as: 

"To undermine the principles of; corrupt 
To overthrow something established or existing "

When applied to the media subversion refers to reversing common conventions, such as having a female action hero, or, as seen in 'Blade', a black hero against a white villain. Subversion can change the effect a film has and in mine, it shows that not all monsters are male. This is especially effective within my opening as vampires are traditionally undead males, such as Dracula, preying on helpless, young and generally beautiful women.

However my opening can be a very common representation of females, in that they are very vindictive towards males and use their "feminine wiles and sexuality" to entice men. This can be applied to my opening because one of the female vampires wears a very revealing outfit to lure her victim towards her, attempting to seduce him in the process. One representation of women that is not applicable is that women are weak and helpless. This is because my vampires do not hunt with a male; they are very independent and do not rely on a creator or even a Dracula-esque character to help them.


 It was also my idea that if the film were extended to have one of the female vampires fall in love with a mortal man, again subverting the tradition of a male vampire falling in love with a mortal female. This has been seen in many places, such as in film series The Twilight Saga, hit HBO television show True Blood and in the ITV drama series The Vampire Diaries.

Vampire Sexuality

Of all the monsters of fiction, the only one primarily associated with sex is the vampire. However, the vampire of folklore was not a sexually attractive figure; he was a dead man who fed on blood. Bram Stoker changed all that with his novel, Dracula.

Stoker used the vampire as a metaphor for the Victorian view of sex as dangerous. In Dracula, sex with the Count transformed women into seductive sirens and horrific murderesses – the opposite of the Victorian ideal of chastity and nurturing womanhood. Originally, only female vampires were especially beautiful. Other such spirit-like vampires were always ugly in their true form, but had the ability to shift their appearance to that of a beautiful maiden, in order to lure men to them.

An interesting aspect of the vampire’s sexual nature is their freedom from rules and social restrictions. From the earliest myths, creatures we now recognize as vampires, by their behavior and supernatural qualities, were female entities determined to punish men. Their raw, untamed sexuality gave them the power of seduction, where they used this to corrupt the minds of men, and send good girls into demoniac possession. In societies demanding sexual restraint, nothing is more frightening than a liberal minded women.

Final Synopsis

The camera follows a young male through a graveyard at dusk as he walks home. As he continues his journey he grows paranoid. Shot of him being followed are seen before he hears a noise and turns to see a pale beautiful woman not much older than he is wearing a very revealing outfit. Scared by her unearthly beauty he moves away from her, only for another, more conservatively dressed pale woman to move towards him from the opposite direction. He realises something is wrong and tries to escape them, only to be encircled by the two females. He is torn between survival and the mesmerising quality of the women. One puts her hand on his shoulder and pushes him to his knees with no effort. He only realises his mistake in not running when he sees them smile with unusually sharp teeth and the camera tilts up to the sky as the vampires (as the women are revealed to be) lean in towards his neck.

Original idea no. 2

My second idea was to have a two part opening. The first part would be a black and white version of my original idea, only slightly shorter and then it cuts to a colour scene with a one year later caption. What would then be seen is a young white male seen in church praying through gaps in the pews, to give a voyeuristic feel to the film. He would then walk to the entrance of the church only to be confronted by the victim from the previous scene who, after revealing her identity as a vampire tells him that she can indeed set foot on hallowed ground and that he shouldn't believe everything he sees in horror movies. 

This idea was scrapped partially for the same reason as the first idea, in that it would not be easy to film or seem very original. the other reason is that because my actors are religious, they did not feel comfortable filming such scenes in a church.