Media AS Coursework(MS2)

Faye Young

Index

Slide :Intertexts ResearchSlide 24: First IdeasSlide 29: Censorship IssuesSlide 33:Questionnaire results and Audience

TheoriesTarget Audiences

For my trailer I have decided to use Thriller as its genre. Here are three examples of films which have already been produced and which have influenced my overall ideas.

Intertext

One Missed Call

Here is the film trailer for One Missed Call

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOSR3SA5moA

Audio Codes; Diegetic sound:- There is no real moment of when we hear

diegetic sound.

Non-diegetic sound:- Before anything is shown on screen a high pitch tune is heard, this automatically gives off the idea that the film is going to be horror/thriller based. Throughout the trailer we hear sounds which replicates the sound which a mobile phone makes and therefore suggests the film is somehow linked to phones of a sort. Other sounds such as the sound of sharp knifes is heard in between different shots to give an overall effect.

Technical Codes; There are many cuts, fades and wipes throughout the trailer to show panic, it is also done to scare the audience and to make them feel uncomfortable, but enjoy themselves at the same time. I think this is very effective and works well within the trailer.

non-diagetic diageticVisual CodesTechnical CodesAction Codes Narrative Codes

Textual Analysis;

Visual Codes;Throughout the whole trailer the lighting remains dark and dusky to reflect

the storyline which is about ghosts and the unnatural. It connotes a typical horror/thriller film. We see flashing images continually and also see cuts, fades and wipes which are done in a fast pace.

Action Codes;The action in this trailer is constant and there is no point throughout it when

there is no action. The action involves many chases and running in and out of different scenes, which creates a tense atmosphere.

Narrative Codes;There is constant Levis-Strauss theory because the audience see moments of

calm then moments of panic which then creates suspense and tension for the audience.

The storyline of the text is clear from the beginning, the audience know that the film is based on mobile phones.

The trailer shows evidence of an equilibrium and a disruption but they do not show anything else, this is to leave the audience on a cliff hanger and so they want to watch the actual film.

There is no evidence of Propps theory because at this stage the audience can’t see who the main characters are and can not see who’s the killer.

This is the trailer for One Missed Call, the trailer immediately grabs the audiences attention because the first thing that they see is the words,’ Everyday 2 billion cell phones ring’. This is a different way of introducing a trailer and so the audience are intrigued. The writing links to the writing on a phone, so the audience make an immediate connection between the both.

The use of camera angles expresses the dramatic feeling of the trailer. When there is a close up to the phone it brings about suspense and creates a tense atmosphere. Many enigmas are taken from this including, what is so bad about the phone? Is it haunted? How will this film turn out? So we as the audience are drawn to the trailer and want to watch the film.

One Missed Call

(2008)

The film was directed by Eric ValletteProduced by: Andrew Koscove, Broderick

Johnson, Scott Kroopf, Jennie Lew Tugend and Lauren Weissman

Written by: Andrew Klavan, Yasushi Akimoto (Book)

Starring: Edward Burns and Shannyn Sossamon

Music by: Reinhold Heil, Johnny KlimekCinematography: Glen MacPhersonEditing by: Steve MirkovichStudio: Alcon Entertainment, Kadokawa

Pictures, Equity Pictures and Intermedia Films

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures

Ref: Wikipedia

Casting and Production

Ratings and Box office takings

The film received 3.6 Stars out of 10. There were 13,249 votes and 159

reviews. Opening Weekend:$12,511,473 (USA) (6 January 2008) (2240

Screens) Gross:$26,876,529 (USA) (9 March 2008)

Review of One Missed Call

Awful, absolutely awful. Had free tickets, but still, I knew better. Of course, all the clichés you'd expect, dumb young adults, scares that come from someone jumping into the screen and sound effects that go "boom" simultaneously, and the build up to when suddenly the main character is the one in eminent danger. Quick cuts of "scary" images. Did I mention the "creepy" music that lets you know when the mood should be tense? Now, add to that a premise that goes beyond the bad premises of other movies in the genre. Possessed cell phones? Or is it possessed ghosts that have to travel through cell lines? Oh man. The crowd I saw it with erupted with laughter numerous times at crucial plot points.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479968/usercomments

Review of One Missed Call

In this US remake of Takashi Miike's 2003 chiller, a supernatural force is causing havoc on campus: students are receiving phone calls from the near future which play back the sound of their own imminent deaths. Each victim is duly drowned, impaled, or hit by a train, and a random name in their cellphone list is then called, forwarding the curse to the next terrified target. Having watched her friends expire one by one, psychology scholar Beth Raymond (Shannyn Sossamon) eventually gets her own dialed-up death sentence, and enlists the help of cop Jack Andrews (Ed Burns), whose sister has also fallen foul of the phantom. Can they destroy the source of the calls before Beth's allotted execution? This flat, workmanlike retread may make you want to hang up before finding out.

For, aptly, Ed Burns's performance feels as though he phoned it in. His low-energy approach might've worked as world-weariness in a naturalistic police procedural, but in the face of the supernatural, he's simply not astounded or terrified enough. He's also dramatically redundant, as Sossamon (bland but adequate considering the characterless role she's been given) does most of the investigating herself, tracing the hub of the haunting to events at a burnt-out hospital. It's here that the film reaches an effects-laden finale which doesn't achieve the intensity it's aiming for due to the dullness of the characterisation and performances.

"THE GHOSTLY EFFECTS ARE WELL DONE... BUT"At least the reason for the haunting is one the script hadn't necessarily led

you to expect, and the ghostly effects are well done. But the blurry, sped-up, head-shaking hallucination-style apparition which startled us two decades ago in Jacob's Ladder and Twin Peaks is starting to look like a cliche now, as is the arrival of spectral children accompanied by twinkly mechanical toy music. Those coming to One Missed Call in search of ground-breaking horror have definitely dialed the wrong number.http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2008/03/31/one_missed_call_2008_review.shtml

Dead Silence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcbulUo4b2s

Dead Silence (15)

(2007)

Casting Ryan Kwanten as ‘Jamie Ashen’ Amber Valletta as ‘Ella Ashen’ Donnie Wahlberg as ‘Det. Lipton’ Michael Fairman as Henry Walker Joan Heney as ‘Marion Walker Bob Gunton as ‘Edward Ashen’ Laura Regan as Lisa Ashen Dmitry Chapovetsky as ‘Richard Walker’ Judith Roberts as ‘Mary Shaw’ Keir Gilchrist as ‘Young Henry’ Steven Taylor as ‘Michael Ashen’ David Talbot as ‘Priest’ Steve Adams as ‘1941 Detective’ Shelley Peterson as ‘Lisa’s Mum’ Enn Reitel as ‘Billy (voice)’

Ratings and Box office takings

 The film received 6 Stars out of a possible 10

There were 19,851 votes and 248 reviews Budget:$20,000,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend:$7,842,725 (USA) (18 March 2007) (1805

Screens) Gross:$16,809,076 (USA) (19 April 2007)

If you have nightmares easily, I suggest staying away from this film: it's pure nightmare fuel. If you have an active imagination, you could have trouble sleeping with the film's imagery burned into the back of your eyeballs. The story's intriguing enough. There just aren't enough horror films these days about menacing old ventriloquist ladies that are buried with their creepy dolls, who have come back from the dead to seek vengeance on the families that put her in the grave, by tearing out their tongues. The atmosphere is heavy, the creepy music is provided by SAW'S Charlie Clouser, the colors are washed out, and the sets are surreal.Many will dismiss it as a formulaic, clichéd horror film. The SAW creators, who are huge horror fans, have fun making their own version of the American horror film by throwing in plenty of classic tropes such as the wise-cracking detective (Donnie Wahlberg) and the crazy old lady that knows more than she should.I was pleased that the film didn't shy away from gore: it wasn't gratuitous, but it did enhance the horror. Most ghost stories tend to be separate from the gore flicks (I'm a fan of both), but I always enjoy seeing them combined. Another aspect that was interesting was the "silence" mode that signalled the presence of evil. It's got plenty of horror elements to provide scares: aged film, folk tales, singing children, antique furniture, voice recordings fading out, flickering lights, dead loved ones beckoning from beyond the grave, photographs of dead families, cackling old women, wide-eyed dolls, billowing curtains, plenty of thunder and lightning, open caskets, dank crawlspaces, and a pervading sense of evil throughout. Critics won't dig it, but I've shown it to two groups of friends and the majority were terrified and claimed it to be one of the scariest movies they'd seen. If you're a fan of atmospheric horror that aims to creep you to the bone, you should be more than

pleased.

Review of Dead Silence

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455760/usercomments

Review of Dead Silence

Saw director James Wan abandons the torture porn genre for Dead Silence, a flimsy, cliché-ridden horror about a menacing ventriloquist's dummy. As Jamie (Ryan Kwanten) travels home to solve the mystery of his wife's murder, he unwisely packs the chief suspect, Billy, a doll who's linked to a local curse. Mild hell breaks loose, along with corny dialogue aplenty. Donnie Wahlberg plays a suspicious cop, but he's chosen better movies - hey, even spooky stepmom Amber Valletta has.

There's plenty of suspense at the start of Dead Silence. This is from the Saw guys, after all, so you get the feeling it could get pretty nasty. In fact, it's a throwback to a more innocent age, when the mere flicker of a doll's eye could fill teens with terror. All well and good, but it becomes so derivative that it borders on dull. The plot takes in lots of waffle about a vengeful dead ventriloquist, Mary Shaw, who uses her dummies as a means of murder. But she's an uninteresting baddie, with equally humdrum victims. Supposedly, she only kills you and snatches your tongue if you scream, but the potential suspense in this idea is exploited in only one scene.

"TEMPTED TO SIDE WITH THE VILLAIN" There are jumps and bumps here and there, and a nifty device in

which the soundtrack slows down to eerie, claustrophobic silence before the killer is about to strike. It looks good, too, but the muddled plot and stilted dialogue irritate to the point where you're tempted to side with the villain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2007/07/02/dead_silence_2007_review.shtml

The Orphan

The Orphan Trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ywOPNNii9w

The Orphan (2009)

Audio Codes; Non-diegetic At the beginning of the trailer there is no music, which

grabs the audience’s attention. I feel this is very effective and worked well for the genre, it makes it extra scary. Throughout we hear certain sound effects and we also hear alot of dialogue which explains the storyline vaguely.

Diegetic Throughout the trailer there is not much diegetic sound within the piece.

Visual Codes;The visual codes mainly consist of darkness and dullness, this is done to give

the first impression that the trailer is horror/thriller based and so it grabs the audiences attention.

Technical Codes;There are many cuts, flashing cuts and fades so there is a lot going on within

the trailer. This shows that the actual film is action packed and so the audience are attracted to this.

Textual Analysis

Action Codes;At the beginning we see a small amount of action occurring but midway

through the trailer there is so much action going on. For example the burning tree house, this consist of a huge fire and causes panic for the audience which is thrilling and existing. This is continued throughout the trailer.

Narrative Codes;In this trailer we see Levis-Strauss theory, this is shown by having the characters seem

happy at the beginning and everything is all nice but then after one sudden moment everything changes. The atmosphere becomes rushed, manic and it turns scary.

We do not see how the disturbance is fixed because this is the whole point of the trailer, to show something's gone wrong and then you go see the film to find out how they solve it.

We see clear main characters in this trailer compared to One Missed Call which shows very limited amount of Propps theory. But in this one we see strong characters forming and how they may behave during the film, we see a snippet of the character.

Orphan is a 2009 American horror and thriller film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, starring Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, and Isabelle Fuhrman in the title role. The film centers on a couple who, after the death of their unborn child, adopt a mysterious 9-year old girl. Orphanwas produced by Joel Silver and Susan Downey of Dark Castle Entertainment and Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran of Appian Way Productions. The film was released theatrically in the United States on July 24, 2009.The film received mixed critical reviews but Fuhrman's performance as Esther was acclaimed.

About the film

Casting Vera Farmiga as ‘Kate Coleman’ Peter Sarsgaard as ‘John Coleman’ Isabelle Fuhrman as ‘Esther’ CCH Pounder as ‘Sister Abigail’ Jimmy Bennett as ‘Daniel Coleman’ Margo Martindale as ‘Dr. Browning’ Karel Roden as ‘Dr. Varava’ Aryana Engineer as Max Coleman Rosemary Dunsmore as ‘Grandma Barbara Jamie Young as ‘Brenda’ Lorry Ayers as ‘Joyce’ Brendan as ‘Detective’ Genelle Williams as ‘Sister Judith’ Mustafa Abdelkarim as ‘Daniel’s friend #1’ Landon Norris as ‘Daniel’s friend #2’ Julien Elia as ‘Hospital Receptionist’ Leni Parker as ‘Delivery room Nurse’ Gemma James Smith as ‘Teacher’ Pia Ajango as ‘Saame Institute Receptionist’ Mather Raudsepp as ‘Saame Institute Orderly’ Sugith Varugthese as ‘ICU Doctor’ Luis Olivia as ‘ICU Nurse’ Ferelith Young as ‘Waiting Room Nurse’ Andrew Shaver as ‘Injection Doctor’

Ratings and Box office takings

The film received 7.1 Stars out of 10. There were 28,623 votes and 266

reviews. Opening Weekend:$12,871,483 (USA) (26 July 2009) (2750

Screens) Gross:$41,573,740 (USA) (4 October 2009)

Review of The Orphan

Finally, a horror film about adults. Adults with complex issues and children that act like children and not hyper precocious sex models. The reason to see this film isn't to find out the over advertised " Esther's secret" of the film (a MAJOR misstep in marketing. Too many people now enter the film trying to figure out the "secret" before they normally would have been surprised), but rather to see a well-acted (extremely well acted by Vera F.)slow-building suspense story with excellent direction and cinematography. John Ottman's score also serves the film well, without becoming overpowering in signaling this is a "creepy" film. The actress who plays Esther shows a skill in performance that makes one think we may actually have another Jodie Foster to keep an eye on. This film works because we LIKE the characters (Rob Zombie please take note!) and fear for them and their survival. Dark Castle's best film, and it gives one hope that the horror/suspense genre still can be presented with intelligence and depth. Hollywood take note: we don't want a xerox of this film, but we do want more films that share this films strenghts: good script, likable real characters, excellent acting and nice, tension building direction. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1148204/usercomments

Review of The Orphan So sloppy, so lowdown, so shameless and so entertaining, "Orphan" provides

everything you might expect in a psycho-child thriller, but with such excess and exuberance that it still has the power to surprise.

From the opening scene - a stillbirth that looks like a bloody homage to - to its protracted, violent, demented climax, "Orphan" is a two-hour nervous breakdown. Even when it's laughable, even when it's illogical and even when it's predictable, it's still unsettling. Its impact comes from the sense, communicated early on, that "Orphan" is willing to take the audience a little further than it expects to go, or even wants to go.

In one corner of the ring, we have two hapless yuppies in a shaky marriage. Mom (Vera Farmiga) is coming off a drinking problem, with less than a year of sobriety, and Dad (Peter Sarsgaard) is clueless and inert, with an eye for other women. Still not recovered from a stillbirth, and with two young children - a snotty young son and an adorable deaf daughter - they somehow settle into the delusion that they're stable enough to adopt an older child from Russia.

In the opposite corner, we have Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), little Miss Perfect in a dress, who is mature, well-spoken and artistically inclined. Just going in, the adoption looks like a bad idea. Even without being evil, Esther is smarter than both her adoptive parents combined, so we know this is a terrible mismatch.

But Esther is evil. How evil? Remember the little girl in "The Bad Seed"? Nice kid, come to think of it.

First Ideas

For my coursework I intend on creating a video-based Production.

This is because I believe I would understand and enjoy this more than the print-based Production.

At first I was more interested in using Horror as my genre but after some research I have came to the conclusion that Thriller would be best for my genre.

This is because Thriller uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements and therefore I can put my creativity into this task and hopefully make it successful.

I have chosen to create a trailer.

I would like my trailer to involve many cuts, fades, wipes, split screen, longs shots, medium shots, birds eye view, point of view, tracking, stedicam and hand held. The reason behind wanting to use these are because they are conventions of the chosen genre and they also make the audience feel uncomfortable, scared and also interested!

A range of different colours would be used; Whites/blues/greens/certain shades of

browns...... Blacks/ greys/ dark browns/ creams.....

Location; outside

Location; inside

These are the three actors which I will be using in my trailer;

Alice Young Millie Gillard Louise Baker

Actors

Here is a list and some pictures of the props in which I wish to use in my trailer;

• Old bag• Flowers• Something big to drag (dummy) • Newspaper with advertisement on

Props

Non-diegetic Giggling Humming/Singing Screaming Piano Creaking Doors

Diegeic Walking through leaves Crackling of a fire

Audio

Censorship Issues

12A is suitable for over 12 years, the same criteria's are used for 12A and 12. The 12A rating is only used by cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a film rated at 12A unless they are with an adult.

Not many horror films are at 12A so I think it would be misleading if my film was at this. I want to have some disturbing scenes so I also think it will be irrelevant if my certificate was this low.

Suitable for 15 years and over, there can be unsuitable violence. Children under 15 can not see a film which is certificated at 15, they can not rent out or purchase a film which is suitable for 15+.

I think I will put my film at 15 because I feel it fits perfectly as to what I want my film to involve and it concludes my overall idea.

No one under the age of 18 can watch an 18 rated film at the cinema, they can not purchase or rent a film rated at 18 either. The film could include strong language, scenes of a sexual nature and violence.

I don’t think I will be putting my film at an 18 certificate because I don’t want my film to involve bad language, sexual scenes or violence because I think it would be irrelevant and wouldn’t fit well with my storyline and my overall idea.

Questionnaire Results and Audience Theory

This section is about a Questionnaire which I created in order to find out what people think of some of my ideas and what they think of what type of film I should create. These results have helped me by influencing me to create new and original ideas.

Which storyline do you think is most effective in relation to a horror film?

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What did I learn from these results?

From these results I discovered that the majority of people are more interested in a storyline which involves a character being possessed and so from this I have based my film (trailer) on the devil and a young girl being taken over by an evil spirit. I also found that 4 characters would be ideal because they believe that 3 and under is too low and 5 or more would be too many and may become complex. These results have helped my grasp and idea and helped my judge how many people I should involve in my trailer.

The reason I chose these types of questions are because I feel they help me get a deeper knowledge of what my target audience would want out of my trailer.

Some of my results didn’t turn out as expected, for example my question; Which genre do you like the most? Most of the people who answered it chose none of the above which is not what I predicted to happen. But thriller turned out to be the second highest chosen and this is my genre of my film.

Target Audience

I asked five of my friends and family and five people I didn’t know what they thought of my final idea. There was a mixture of feedback, some three people said that its too complicated and also that I give away what the film is about. While the others really liked my idea and said they could see it working well and could receive high results.

Feedback of my final idea

I created another Questionnaire so I could gather results for my target audience and so I know who I need to aim my trailer at, the information which I received helped me largely and I learnt a lot from these given results.

Here are the results from my Target audience Questionnaire

From the questionnaire results I have decided to use the target audience of 15-40, the reason for choosing this is because I feel it is the type of audience which will enjoy and really find my trailer chilling, scary and interesting. I think my trailer would be more aimed at the males because my trailer will feature dark, cold and freaky sections and I think the male audience will be drawn to this more than the females.

The majority of men enjoy texts which involve lots of action, suspicion and strength. In video games including Call of Duty, Halo and Gears of War involve these three key concepts which attract male viewers. So I need to incorporate moments of action, suspicion and strength.

How have these results influenced my overall idea?

I feel these results have really helped me to get an understanding of who I should aim my film trailer at and how they would react to it. It has also helped me find a common ground because I now know what things I should and shouldn’t involve in my trailer.