film project evaluation

Film studies evaluation

In my group for our film studies project was James, Chloe, kit and me. Between us we choose to base our film on horror/thriller genre. Our film was about a girl called Chelseys, after splitting up with her boyfriend goes to a house party, where her drink was spiked. She is then kidnapped and wakes up to find herself at the mercy of her kidnapper. Our extract in particular is focused on her drink being spiked at the party and then the murder scene. But before we came up with this plot we looked at some other horror/thriller films to get inspiration. Films such Taken which was made in 2008, and directed by Pierre Morel, is about a young girl who goes on holiday with her friend, and gets abducted by a man. Her father, who is a former spy, sets out to find his daughter. And the film prom night, which is about young girl fighting to stay alive on her prom night as a former stalker, sets out to kill her. The similarities between these films and our film is it is about a young girl being kidnapped or killed and is in the horror/thriller genre convention, and also a slight similarity between the names, prom night. Taken and trapped, all are short, snappy titles.

My role in creating our film was to play the role of chelsey, and to be in charge of the microelement of sound, which was important in creating our sequence. Sound was first used in our sequence at the party scene. We wanted something up beat so that me and Chloe and our extras could dance along making the party seem more realistic. the song at first was diegetic. The song we choose for this was kick-start by example as its up beat and the sort of music you would expect at a typical house party. However when editing there was a problem with the music at the party. Certain clips from the footage were edited and cut meaning the music was no longer in sequence making it jumpy; also the music wasn’t particularly loud. What we did about this was that Chloe, Chloe being the editor and me used you tube converter to put the song in as non-diegetic sound into the footage this made the music consistent and not jumpy. We then also changed the volume of it so that it was loud enough but not too loud so you couldn’t hear what everyone else was saying. After a while of footage of the party and after the drink being spiked, we filmed the rest of the party from chelseys point of view with me holding the camera facing Chloe as it was from chelseys perspective, and kit doing close up realisation shots when chelsey realises something’s wrong. By using final cut chloe  added the blur effect when it was from chelseys perspective and made the footage  look blurry and distorted as she’s been spiked this creates suspense as now the audience definitely know something’s wrong and they start to fear for her.  After we did this I suggested we should also put in some effect to the music to add to the distorted effect, (which was still kick-start by example as it was still at the party scene ) What Chloe and me did to the sound was that when the footage from chelseys point of view gradually gets blurry  (when the drug kicks in) we put an echo effect on the music making it go with the blurry vision and showing how distorted she is by the drug put in her drink. While this is going on Chloe who is also playing chelseys friend in the film is asking if she’s ok at this point we lowered the volume so the audience could hear her concern for her. After this is when chelseys finally collapses and the music fades to show she’s passing out.

The next part of our sequence is the murder/kidnapping scene, the scene starts when chelsey wakes up covered in fake blood we used this as the audience would be asking and be curious is to why she’s covered in blood. Blood also fits into our horror/thriller genre.  This was set in a small dark room to create a intense and scary atmosphere.  This shot of chelseys waking up we did a few times as the lighting was too dark but after slightly opening the window we had enough light to get the footage but not too much as we wanted the scene t look as dark scary and creepy as it was a horror/thriller and this was the murder scene.  To begin with at this point the sound was originally going to be only her fast diegetic heavy breathing this was to show how scared she is (showing emotion) but after some editing we decided and by again using final cut to put in some faint party music in the background , by again using you tube converter and putting it into the footage on final cut  the song used was bodyrox Luciana yeah yeah (again party music) I thought this would be good for the sequence as it was to show the audience that somewhere close the party is still going on but no one knows what’s really happened to her, this is also frustrating for the audience and creates tension and suspense for the audience as people are so close but no one can hear her or comes to help which is stereotypical of a horror/thriller in creating this type of tension and suspense and making the audience fear for chelseys life. After chelseys wakes up I thought it would be good to again show her fear and emotions, so as I acted I shouted ‘hello’; hello’ a few times while pacing anxiously around the room as kit followed me with the camera as she was in charge of cinematography so that I was the main attention of the audience at this point. This is when James who was playing the kidnapper and was also the director stepped into the room and is carrying a knife. We used the knife as a prop so that the audience would anticipate what was going to happen and put them on edge.  As the door opened for sound me and Chloe suggested raising the bodyrox Luciana yeah yeah song (non diegetic sound) would be slightly louder as sound would realistically be like and also making It again seem that the party is continuing and no one knows what’s happening to her this again was done on final cut. Lastly towards the end of the sequence as James (the kidnapper) was approaching James (the director) thought me pleading with the kidnapper would again show fear emotion making the audience sympathise for Chelsea. After this the door slams shut. I thought this would be better than just closing it as it creates more of a dramatic impact. There is a short pause of silence to create tension, and then lastly we created a loud diegetic banging on the door sound showing Chelsea’s struggle and fear then a loud high pitch scream (diegetic), and the sequences ends. We ended it this way so the audience have an idea what happened to Chelsea but are not sure, leaving it as a cliff hanger.

In conclusion my individual contribution to the project was to be in charge of sound and to play the role of Chelsea. I used sound in this sequence that would fit into the stereotypical horror/thriller genre such as screams etc to create tension, suspence and fear in the audience. I also used sound at the party scene to show Chelsea disorientation when’s she was spiked by echoing the sound. This was so the audience can see what happening from Chelsea’s point of view and to make it more dramatic.