Preliminary task planning

When planning for my preliminary I first started to test ideas of horror images and what my overall goal on the opening sequence will be like, I created a storyboard on what my opening sequence will look like, I included a variety of shot types; camera angles and soundtracks that I will be including, all linking the the genre of horror and keeping in mind my target audiences preferences to what they like.

Questionnaire

I have created a questionnaire for my target audience which is ages 15 and above, I used this questionnaire to get an understanding of what there favourite type of horror film is; what they thought an attractive film poster looked like and what there scariest fear is. 
Here is an example of one of my questionnaires 

As of the 18th November the rest of this blog and my coursework will be produced individually by me. 

Audience Profile

Name – Dylan Evans

Age - 19

Class- Working class 

Gender – Male

Ethnicity – British

Psychographics – Enjoys Free running, Dancing, Going out with his friends, watching films mainly horror, his favorite film is The Cabin in the Woods, Dylan likes being with his family and generally being happy.

Dislikes: being unorganized, bullies, Romantic and chic flicks. 

BBFC for my opening sequence

I have decided that my opening sequence would be rated 15 this is because you may see the following:

strong violence
strong language
sexual activity
drug taking
verbal violence

This means that this is only suitable for people aged 15 and above. It is illegal to supply a VHS, DVD, Blue-ray, UMD, video game, or film tickets with a 15 certificate to anyone under the BBFC certification allocated to that film.

After looking at existing horror films i decided that we would rate the opening sequence a 15 due to thats the type of horror sequence im completing therefore it is more representable and links better with other films i looked at.

Certification

 

UNIVERSAL – All ages admitted. Nothing unsuitable for children aged 4 years or over

PARENTAL GUIDANCE – All ages admitted, but some certain scenes can be unsuitable for young children. They should not disturb children aged 8 or older.

12 – Only suitable for people aged 12 or older. It is illegal to supply a
(12A are assigned to ages 12, yet if you are younger you are able to go with adult supervision.)

12A – Films under this category is considered to be unsuitable for young children. Cinemas in the United Kingdom are only permitted to supply tickets to see a 12A film to children under the age of 21 if they are accompanied by an adult, aged at least 18 or older.

15- Only suitable for people aged 15 or older. It is illegal to supply a film tickets with a 15 certificate to anyone under that age.
Films under this category can contain adult themes, regular use of foul language and limited use of very strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphical detail. Sexual activity may be portrayed, Sexual violence may be shown.

18 – only suitable for people aged 18 or older, which means adults only. It is illegal to supply a film tickets with an 18 certificate to anyone under that age.
Films under this category do not have limitation on the content of the language that is used.

Narrative theories

Roland Barthes

When analysing texts, Barthes makes a distinction between a traditional work and what he calls “the Text.” He says that traditional texts works as the author has control of the narrative, the Text enables the reader to actively engage in its production because it is not restricted by genre. Whereas written text is the primary communication system, his theories can be applied to various cultural forms such as photography, music, painting, and cultural events.

Barthes also distinguishes between readerly and writerly texts. Readerly texts, he says, have pre-determined meaning, whereas , writerly texts have a large number of meaning.

Elements of both readerly and writerly texts can be interpreted through what Barthes calls the Five Codes.

The five codes represent five different ways of seeing meaning in a text. They highlight different aspects of the narrative.

According to Barthes a text can be open or closed, The five codes are:

·        Enigma code-This code refers to mystery within a text. Enigmas within the narrative make the audience want to know more, this would be a good theory to link in with the genre of horror because it would create a sense of mystery and suspense. 

·        Action code -This code contains sequential elements of action in the text, linking in with horror films this could be a good way to show off the action that is happening. 

·        Semantic code -This code refers to additional meanings. Elements of the semantic code.

·        symbolic code-This code is about symbolism in text.

·        Referential code - This code refers to anything in the text which refers to an external body of knowledge, within a horror film it allows the audience to already have a feel of what is going to happen at the end.

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp developed a character theory for studying media texts and productions, which indicates that there were 7 broad character types in the 100 tales he analysed, which could be applied to other media:

·        The villain (struggles against the hero)

·        The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)

·        The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)

·        The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)

·        The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil)

·        The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)

·        The hero [AKA victim/seeker/paladin/winner, reacts to the donor, weds the princess)

Levi Strauss

Binary oppositions – basically levi strauss theory is that the conflict is based around the binary opposites and that the binary opposites are the central climax of  narrative structure.

Examples of binary opposites:

·        Good v evil

·        Boy v girl

·        Peace v war

                                                        Todrov

Paranormal Activity Film Poster Analysis

Paranormal Activity is based on a true story.

The title stands out well as the text is in red upon a black background, The colours red and black are very popular when making horror film posters because of the connotations of the two colours, red suggests blood and gore, or danger and black connotes darkness and spook. This is what identifies this film poster as being a horror.

The main image of the poster establishes that the film takes place in a house and is filmed by a home camera, this will engage the audience because it creates a more realist narrative as it is filmed with an ordinary camera where there can be no major editing involved yet that is what the audience suspects. In the image, you can see the woman pointing to something that the audience can not see, this creates a sense of wonder for the audience that is highlighted in Barthes theory because the audience will want to know what she is pointing at.

This poster has a web address on it to support the film. This helps to get more of the target audience interested in watching the film. The film hasn't go any credits or who it has been produced by this suggests to me that the producers have done this to create a more real film. Also, there isn't a famous main character its just two normal human beings therefore creating that feel of realism more.

Collaboration work

Firstly, Ben and I decided on what we would like our opening sequence to be like, we discussed that the narrative for our opening sequence would start with kids playing with there toys, not knowing one is possessed by a demon (we got these idea from different analysis of films, paranormal activity and the woman in black). then one of the kids(preferable a girl) would go and murder a family member, unsuspectingly. After this has occurred they will walk up to the camera no facial expressions and look directly at the camera giving the audience a creepy feel, she would then talk to the camera as if it was someone/thing else (the demon that told her to do those things to her family) then in a quck pan shot you will slightly see the outline of the  demon.