Reflective Analysis

I have produced a short film sequence from an imagined feature called ‘Trespass’ which is of the horror genre. I took the role of director, writer, editor and cinematographer. I aimed to achieve my goals of producing a horror based film using the codes and conventions of this genre and frightening the audience through my knowledge from FM1 of mis-en-scene, editing and cinematography. I aimed to appeal to a target audience which is mainstream aiming more towards those who have a particular interest in horror films who are aged between 15 and 25 and it is aimed at both men and women.

My main influence for my film sequence comes from the editing and cinematography as a part of a particular scene within 'The Ring', this scene is the 'killer video tape'. The use of black and white editing within this scene influenced the use of black and white editing for my film sequence as I intended for my film sequence to give a similar effect to the audience as the 'killer video tape' does.  Also, the use of black and white gives the impression to the audience that what they are watching is not reality.
The use of quick jump cuts in between shots within the ‘killer video tape’ scene within ‘The Ring’ are used to heighten the audience’s emotions in terms of being scared. This use of editing influenced the type of editing I used within my film sequence. For example, within my film sequence there are multiple shots of a young girl in the form of a ghost and the transitions between these shots are very quick, therefore the audience are unaware of what the next shot will show, because it happens so quickly that they are unable to look away, therefore leaving the audience tense throughout, which is conventional of the horror genre. The lack of continuity throughout the sequence of the ‘killer video tape’ is something I wanted to re-create as scenes seem more frightening by audiences when
formatted in this way, therefore my film sequence is limited in continuity right up until the end. This is used to represent a lack of realism. What the audience are viewing is a nightmare and therefore fictitious, the use of editing, cinematography and lack of continuity represents my film sequences context.

 

The aim of my film sequence is to shock and frighten the target audience as well as to use horror film codes and conventions. For example the setting of my sequence is isolated as it is mostly located in a house and the majority of my film sequence is filmed in two rooms, the living room and the hallway leading to the stairs. The use of an isolated setting makes the audience feel claustrophobic therefore making them feel frightened which was one of my aims. The performance of a young girl portraying a ghost is another conventional horror code that I used within my film sequence. Ghosts are usually depicted in horror films as scary. Therefore, by using this conventional code of the horror genre I believe the aim of frightening the target audience is more likely to be fulfilled.

With regards to mis-en-scene and fulfilling my aims I used conventionally ‘scary’ props such as dolls and other children’s toys.

In terms of themes for my film sequence, I went for the idea of ‘good versus evil’ as well as the theme of ‘revenge’. I got the idea for the theme of ‘revenge’ from the film ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ (Wes Craven, 1984). The reason behind the revenge in both ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ and my film sequence ‘Trespass’ is very similar as both the antagonists want to seek revenge because of the way they died. Both of the themes ‘revenge’ and ‘good versus evil’ are conventionally used within the horror genre, therefore I decided to use them within my film sequence to enhance the chance of fulfilling my aims.

The sound I used throughout my film sequence differs to that used in the ‘killer video tape’ in ‘The Ring’. I originally intended to use high-stringed music as this is conventional within the horror genre but throughout the planning process I found other music sources which I thought would be good to use in terms of fulfilling my aim of frightening the audience. The music I chose for my final edit includes a scary version of a children’s lullaby which I thought would be good to use as the focus of my film sequence is a young girl. Also because the song is scary it instantly frightens the audience as it is at the very beginning of the film sequence. Other sounds that I used throughout my film sequence in order to help fulfil my aims of shocking and frightening the audience where sounds such as, a heartbeat, child laughter and an evil laughter. I decided to use child laughter throughout some of my sequence to frighten the audience because the use of this sound within a horror film is conventionally seen as frightening. The ambient sound of a heartbeat is a often related to the horror genre as it usually makes the audiences heart beats quicker because they automatically believe something scary is about to happen. Therefore, I decided to use this sound to attempt to fulfil my aim of frightening the audience. All of the stylistics I used where to help fulfil my aim of making a horror based production based upon the codes and conventions of the horror genre.

To further understand whether or not I had achieved my goals I gathered audience feedback in the form of questionnaires. Most of the feedback I received showed that I had achieved my aim of frightening the audience as well as using stylistics that instantly identified my film as part of the horror genre. Negative feedback that I received was that the majority of the audience that viewed my film sequence felt confused throughout. Therefore, if I were to go back and re-film some of my film sequence I would add some more footage to the beginning of the sequence to make the sequence easier to understand for the audience. But, if the film sequence was part of a longer feature it would be more understandable.