Feedback - Miss Spencer

Your conventions work shows promise. You have clearly understood manyof the conventions. However to take this above a level 2 I would like to see some look at the history of the genre, and some examples of this and the conventions.

Your pitch also shows promise. It does seem to fit into the thriller genre, but ensure that there are many conventions within the opening, including your characterisation, setting etc.

Film Pitch - Shadow Task 4

A teenage girl called Mollie is being threatened and followed by an anonymous stalker, who knows all of her deepest secrets. She receives constant text messages, emails and notes manipulating her into doing things to hurt her family, friends and herself. If she doesnt obey this mysterious sender, her loved ones will die. At the same time of doing as shes told, she is investigating who this could be tormenting her and why they are after her.

The whole film is a complete mystery as you dont discover who the stalker is till the very end. This will create a lot of tension throughout the film because you will be suspecting everyone who interacts with the main character. The constant secrecy makes the audience feel on edge as they cant trust any of the characters.

The main character is called Mollie and she is a 16 year old girl. She is a student at sixth form. She is seen as a vulnerable character at the beginning of the film as she gets easily scared and paranoid about this mysterious stalker. But as the film develops she grows into a strong, confident and fiery character as she has to strengthen herself to deal with these threats and messages. If I could choose any director to direct our film, it would be Drew Goddard. He is famous for directing the horror/thriller Cabin In The Woods and has written thrillers like World War Z and Cloverfield. The ideal actress to play our main character Mollie is Amanda Seyfried. I think she will be perfect for this role because she is an actress that usually plays innocent characters which is how we want to portray Mollie in the film. The only difference with the role that I would want Amanda Seyfried to play is the fact of being innocent in the beginning but completely changing how the character acts throughout the film as in the beginning she is all sweet and innocent but gradually progressing through the film she become fiery and determined to catch the culprit behind the stalking's and murders of her close family and friends.

The typical conventions of a thriller film that we plan to use are point of view, deaths, gore and CCTV shots. Point of view shots connote that someone is being secretive and hiding something, in this case they are hiding their identity from the audience. CCTV shots also support the fact that the main character is being watched and spied on. The deaths and gore wont be in the opening of our film, but if we were to film the whole of it it would include these conventions. Furthermore, the use of the pov shots and the over the shoulder shots help show to the audience that they are seeing everything from potentially, the stalker/killers pov which can help create tension as the audience can tell what is about to happen whereas the characters in the film do not so clear conventions of horror/thriller are to be shown throughout.

Function of Opening Sequences Task 2.1

An opening sequence rarely has much happening in dramatic terms, so the job of the opening sequence is to establish:

• Character and/or setting - establishing shot for setting and introducing a character through an action/dialogue
• Narrative context - storyline of film
• Enigma or mystery - suspense and foreshadowing

For example, in the opening sequence of Jaws, there is an establishing shot showing the audience that the scene is by the coast. It also introduces the sort of characters that will be involved in the film - young teenagers. The storyline is also shown in the beginning of the film as Chrissie is attacked by some sort of sea monster and killed, foreshadowing the film is about deaths and this mysterious creature. Normally dramatic things dont really happen in the beginning of a film, but this death really shocks the viewers and gets them prepared for the rest of the film.

Conventions of a Horror Film Task 2.2

Conventions of a horror film:

• point of view shot
• long shots
• supernatural
• children
• blood and gore
• deaths
• stalkers
• violence
• abandoned house
• woods
• tense music
• fast editing
• dark
  
• weapons
• black and red
• masks
• blue filter
• cliffhanger
• villian/antagonist
• hero
• revenge

A genre is essentially the type of film, The various aspects of a film decide which genre the film is. Some films can fall into more than one category e.g Horror/Comedy, Horror/Thriller. Horror films are designed to frighten and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while cpativating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films feature a wide range of styles, from the earliest silent Nosferatu classic, to todays CGI monsters and deranged humans.

Typical Settings, Iconography, Characterisation and Themes:

• abandoned house, the woods, after dark, old buildings 
• knives, colours (black and red), masks, blue filter
• evil character, damsel in distress, hero, sidekick
• mental illness, revenge, religious belief

Feedback - Miss Spencer

Well done Jodie, you have made a good start to your coursework blog. As well as the analysis you have added other posts that enrich your research evidence, like the opening sequence post. At the moment this work is at a level 2/3 border, and in order to improve you should think about these suggestions:  

• If you comment of an element, then make sure you also discuss the effect on the audience and whether or not it is a typical convention of the genre.
• Remember DISTINCT, (Don't Ignore, Setting, Technical Code, Iconography, Narrative, Characterisation, Theme) Ensure you cover all of these areas in each analysis.
• Embed the film opening in each of your analysis and a variety of screen shots throughout all of your analysis.
• Ensure each post is using the same font
• Can you delete the empty posts and only put them up when you are ready to write them?