Evaluation - Question 1

Setting and Location
We used three different locations in total, used throughout our opening scene. all in which follow the conventions of our genre, Supernatural Horror.With them all being situated in a isolated woodlands, with eerie dark lighting and withered rural grass/plants.We liked the idea of using locations with long twirling branches and tall trees, making our shots seem tense and mysterious .As you will see in all locations the lighting is dark, which we thought followed one of the key elements of a Horror movie, making it add to the tension of the scene, creating a eerie, negative atmosphere.

Luckily, Holly and myself live in the countryside, therefore we were able to easily find locations that meet the conventions of the genre.Looking at other examples of the same genre, such as Silent Hill, and we noticed that used a similar location, in a woodlands, following a similar plot.We liked how in this opening the protagonist was running through the woodland, using extreme long shots to help make the character seem vulnerable.We were also able to make the character seem fearful, due to the size and condition of the location and how we adapted to it. Location two and three became very beneficial for us, as they seemed to appear very atmospheric and we were able to conjure up various ideas, especially due the weather conditions, with the time period we were filming was foggy i n spring, with leaves on the ground and withered trees, making good scenery shots and adding good strong colours, such as oranges, browns and grays.We used our research from different films from the same genre, we focused on the 'The Shining', which followed a similar plot to ours and therefore we used several ideas from the opening scene.

Typography 
As mentioned in previous blog posts, we chose to base our film on a film called 'Inner Evil', which is based around a girl who becomes lost and trapped in her mind, stalked by a supernatural being.Due to Horror films being very popular in the Film Industry we had to be careful that we chose an appropriate name, which would be recognizable and a good brand name to appeal to specific our target audience.

To ensure we followed this, we carried out different research into different titles and ideas that worked well and were conventional to that genre.We looked at lots of other films in that genre, like 'Paranormal Activity' and 'Woman In Black', which both linked to the conventions of the Supernatural genre, adding both mystery and clues to the contents of the film.We liked the idea of using a name which would lead to suspense and would make our consumers/ audience unaware and curious of the contents.I noticed how the majority of the titles used for well-known films in that genre, were formal and long.Therefore to follow this convention and trend, we also made our film title long and with a dual meaning. We wanted to make the title to have more than one meaning, to keep the audience guessing and intrigue them to watch the film.

Supernatural titles, from doing research, seem to carry some clue or suggestion, towards the supernatural occurrence, therefore using the title , 'Inner Demon', encourages the idea of an unwelcome presence within a being or object.With the word 'Demon' commonly associated with supernatural , carrying codes and conventions of an evil spirit or presence, we thought it was ideal for our film, linking to our mise en scene and characters. Obviously choosing the tile for our film was a critical element and is the first feature/icon the readership/consumers will be attracted to, which will ultimately lead them to be either interested and curious to watch it, or the opposite.I personally believe that the title chosen was both effective and appealing for our target audience, enhancing the attraction of our movie.

In regards to the creation of our title, we had to think carefully to ensure we met the conventional codes and produce it with the kind of typography our target audience would expect, to ultimately make the genre of the film more identifiable to our target audience.After looking at other film titles and understanding the type of typography they use, gave Holly and I a clear representation of the way we needed to present our's in our opening scene.Firstly we gathered the idea of using formal historic styled font, which is commonly associated as mysterious and uncommon in today's society.We therefore used a italic handwritten style on Live type.
Also to remain with the common conventions of our chosen genre, we also decided that making our titles simplistic and easy to eye, would make them more recognizable and will create more of an impact in the audience's perspective.We kept to white coloured typography, as we felt this was the most appropriate to use, after doing research, movies such as 'Silent Hill' and 'Sinister' had similar appearance in titles.We also thought that making our titles white out enforce their importance, as they stand out above the black eerie shots.

 Costumes and Props

We wanted to use costumes and props which were stereotypical to the Supernatural genre.Before filming our opening we did tester shots and pictures of our costumes in the locations to see whether they were appropriate and appear conventional.For example the left hand top picture show how the Antagonist's costume looked when filming.

Holly and I thought this was good, with clear representation of the stock character , using a dark filter to enforce the tension and eerie atmosphere. We used a black body suit, with a ribbed cream scarf to emphases abandonment and abnormal behavior.I like how it worked considerably well with the environment (woodlands) and the natural light.We wanted every aspect of the antagonist to appeal as conventional and realistic as possible.Her hair was down, curl and messy to add to the abnormal characteristics and to portray a supernatural presence.

The Protagonist's costume was thought carefully, as we wanted to represent the character in the right way to the target audience.We chose basic clothes, using grays and blacks, with the white t-shirt standing out, which in many ways help's to show the audience the importance of the character and her relevance to the film.After reviewing our research , looking at other films in the same genre, of Supernatural, for example Mama and Paranormal Activity 3, which both use children/teenagers as the main character.Often in danger or under threat of the Supernatural character/being, being vulnerable, creating tension for the audience.Therefore we used this idea in our own film, using a female of an age of 16, to help relate to the audience, with them being of a similar age, 16+).The costume is a stereotypical choice of that age group, with a long hoodie, slouchy t-shirt, leggings and van plimsolls.
The idea of the protagonist being  in danger was influenced from our research on the film 'Silence of Lamb', following a similar plot and genre to our's.

We also used a mp3 player as our main prop, used by our Protagonist.This helped emphases the realism of the situation, with most people in that age group stereo-typically listening to music, especially whilst exercising (running).This technique of using an Ipod is also to show that the protagonist is unaware of the danger around her and showing the audience she is in more danger.A water bottle was also used initially to make it seem realistic, as one would normally bring this prop.However no shots were used in the end with this prop in, as they were inappropriate and didn't link to the plot of the scene.

Camera work and editing
The first element of our opening scene was our ident, which was created using Photoshop and LiveType. We choose a cat, because we believed it was conventional to our genre of Horror, with black cats commonly being associated with being unlucky and dangerous, linking to our opening scene.We then placed a transition for the image to zoom in. with the main focus being the piercing black eyes of the cat, adding interest and appeal to the target audience.
We added this into our scene, starting off by producing a rough cut with all the shots in the scene, alongside transitions, which were manly cross cuts and fades, as we didn't want to over edit and transform the shots, making it less realistic and engaging.
The sound wasn't adding our rough cut, as we wanted to focus on the structure of the scene, making sure we cut and adapted the shots to make them at a high quality and to ensure the scene was identifiable to the genre of Horror.The cross cut dissolve used helped create an eerie, atmosphere, adding to the tension and putting the audience on edge.But as mentioned before we didn't want to put too many transitions, as we felt it would make the scene seem unrealistic and confusing for the audience to follow the narrative.
As for our camera work we used a 5D EOS Canon, which allowed us to create focus pulls to shallow-depth, creating a eerie atmosphere and adding tension to the shots.It also helps to show the main importance in the shots with the character always being the main focus and the surroundings being faded out.
The shots used follows the journey of the protagonist's jog, with the idea of the audience being connected to this character, engaging and enticing them to watch on.
This technique of creating a journey with the Protagonist for the audience to follow was influenced from the film Paranormal Activity.