Unit 10 – Assignment 1

Unit 10 – Assignment 1

Codes and conventions

Stylistic

The horror genre is one of the more recognizable genres which allows horror films to be analyzed with ease as they have been drawn out and redone numerous times which creates a pattern of repetition, two examples of this are Friday the 13^th (2009 reboot) and Alien.

These two films are a prime example of the repeated codes and conventions in the horror genre, but as the theorist Steve Neale suggest, an audience demands repetition and difference and the horror genre is made up of both especially these two films.

One of the most iconic scene from the franchise is the scene of the chest burster killing one of the characters in the film. This follows some codes as its bloody by spurting out blood everywhere but the use of diegetic sound creates this realism for the audience which shocks them as this bloody mess I going on screen, this goes against the codes and conventions of a horror film as a usually the sound intensifies a murder or tries to scare the audience by instantly going load to create a jump scare.

Alien (a very iconic and well know horror film) is almost entirely shot in lowkey lighting which is a clear code for the horror genre and creates a constant eerie atmosphere creating suspense and allows the audience to sympathies with the characters with how little they can see.

                                                                                       

Another stylistic code and convention of the horror genre is the

isolated setting creating fear as the characters can’t leave nor ca they call for help. Alien’s location follows this convention as it’s on a ship in space and the alien is in with them and as they can’t leave the ship making escape/survival difficult creating tension and a sense of being hunted. Friday’s location also follows this convention as it’s on a camping site which is in the middle of nowhere and audiences can recognize this as its purpose is to be isolated away from technology and on the country side away from any and all safety.

Usually in the horror (mainly the slasher genre which resides in horror) there is a central weapon or prop used that can be recognized, two examples are Michael Myers’s kitchen knife and predator’s wrist blades. Jason’s machete falls directly under this convention as its used in very film and is associated with the character. Whereas Alien goes against the character is it kills without using anything that isn’t a part of the character’s costume for example it’s tale, second mouth and acid blood, this keeps true to the animalistic nature of the Xenomorphs.

A recognizable and iconic costume/look is what every horror film/franchise tries to accomplish which is what these two films accomplished as Jason’s hockey mask, towering body along with his machete has become an icon for the character as his height dehumanizes the character making him more of a monster and a beast, his iconic mask hides his disfigured face but intensifies the fear of the unknown as the human imagination will always be worse no matter how good the makeup is. The costume/look of a Xenomorph is instantly recognizable not only due to its franchise but through the freedom they had to create this creature as it didn’t need be something anyone had seen before as it was unworldly, and as it was a part of a species with realistic attributes like the tail and body it frightened audiences to think that this could exist somewhere out in the far depths of space.   

Narrativ

Films in the horror genre usually have a predictable narrative for example one of the most used convention of horror is the final girl where the films begins with a group of character’s which re usually just introduced to be killed off and by the end the final girl is left to either escape of to defeat the main antagonist, these film directly follow this convention the final girl in Friday is Whitney Miller played by Amanda Righetti and in Alien the final girl is Ellen Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver. 

The purpose of a final girl is to have a (despite her gender) relatable character that the audience can sympathies with as the story progresses and to express terror to the audience throughout the film.

Another narrative convention is isolation, the isolated setting traps the protagonist and antagonist together which at first allows all some/all other characters to get killed as the protagonist is hunted but either near the end or half way through the film the protagonist realizes they need to fight back which results in the conclusion/final battle ending by the traditionally the final girl finds a way to get the upper hand, in Friday its Whitney Miller using the locket of Jason’s mother as she looks like her to confuse Jason as they surprise him and “kill” him, in Alien its when Ripley fights the alien queen with a mech suit. 

These films take a very different approach to defeating their antagonist the more memorable is Aliens since its more of a show down and a struggle between the two characters which creates tension and excitement whereas Friday’s approach is more anticlimactic as they psychologically stun him by chance that the final girl happens to look similar to Jason’s mother and then beat and “kill” him.

The structural theorist Tsetzvan Todorov suggested the five stages of a film which were the Equilibrium, Disruption of order by an event, Recognition that the disorder has occurred, the attempt to repair the damage of the disruption, A return or restoration of a new equilibrium.

Todorov’s Theory can be applied to both films, in Friday the equilibrium is when the teens are all happy and normal having a good time, the disruption is when Jason attacks them then when they try and run and hide that becomes the Recognition of the disruption then comes the attempts to repair the disruption when they try and kill Jason then when they succeed this is the restoration of the new equilibrium.

In Alien the Equilibrium is the journey to their destination, the Disruption is when one character gets infected with the face hugger which leads to the chest burster comes out and kills the character this would be the recognition that the disorder has occurred leading to other events throughout the film, the attempts to repair the damage is when they kill all the aliens and finally the new equilibrium is when the characters return to highper sleep.

Unit 10: Video Production

BETEC Practical Filmmaking Exercise 

Our Brief and restrictions for our task was “A character walks into a building and to a room. They meet another character I this room and engage in brief conversation. The character leaves.” 

This gave me a lot of freedom to work with as it doesn’t specify emotions, how many characters are in the background or anything so as people were put into groups I didn’t feel that anyone there would meet my expectations in my vision as id already started planning it in my head with locations, characters and dialogue, another reason was to use certain people as actors that nobody had seen before as it just takes away realism of what you are watching when you already know people and they’ll just see it as being filmed not as a film.

I physically began by writing down a basic script but with room for improvisation so the actors could make it seem a little more natural if they just come up with normal conversation in their head rather than memorize some exact lines and say it like a robot which just takes away from the emersion.

I then used a location I was familiar with so I could map out shots and scenes from outside and inside off the top of my head, the location of course was the house of a friend as I remember the layout and the positions of everything was perfect for what I wanted.

For example, I had already decided I wanted to shoot it while it was dark to get rid of continuity errors with the sky and in a street next to a thin path between two houses next to a road was a street lamp which is how I wanted to introduce my first/main character in the opening shot by having the camera angled down from up high and the character walking across the light stopping for the title sequence then walking off. 

In the first shot the camera would be stationary but in the next shot I wanted to follow the character with a shaky cam behind so simulate the footsteps as it would be in time with him walking and to establish the urban area then the same shot except id be in front of him, all of this would be shot with only diegetic sound to keep it more realistic with car noises and the engine noise of a truck when he walks past it.

The next shot would be up high and stationery but the angle wouldn’t be as far down as the opening shot but a little higher as the character walks towards our building.

The next shot would be from the same place except the camera would have moved instead of the tripod and showed the front door to establish a familiar site as people used their front door, but obviously to show it’s not his house but the character enters by knocking but without being told to come in the character enters, this demonstrate how he is expected and it’s the house of someone he knows well.

The next little shot would be a close-up continuity shot of the door handle showing the door opening from the inside and the character entering giving that continuity illusion that it’s all happening at once.

Next is a shot following the character again but through the house and into the designated room but the camera would be directly behind the character until he enters the room and move to the side a little to reveal our second character sitting at the other end of the room sitting in a dominant chair on his own to show his importance and dominance to the audience. 

This is followed by another mini continuity shaky cam shot of the characters side at a Dutch angle matching up with the characters coat pocket as he pulls out a roll of money showing the importance of what the pocket contained which I feel I did effectively as the importance translates straight into the next quick shot of their hands coming into frame one from a low angle and the other from a high angle for the continuity as one character is standing and the other is sitting and again effectively showing off the importance of the prop during this hand off.

The next shot was on the tripod where the first character would be standing to show his perspective as the second character takes the money pulling the rubber band off and counting it which starts the dialogue. The first scripted line is said as all others was improvised background talk to make the scene seem more natural. 

The first scripted line was “where’s the rest” this creates conflict and was originally supposed to create tension but as personal errors didn’t allow me to do any reshoots or even finish filming the rest of the scenes so instead before the second scripted line is delivered there is a quick cut to the other characters as I wanted to reshoot it with a pause before his line showing his reaction and his small silence to show his acknowledgement of the problem to the audience. His improvised line by the first character is then delivered explaining he borrowed some to take his “lass” out this makes the seem more natural pulling the audience into the lore as its revealed that there’s more happening outside the film in this world.

The second character takes no notice of his aggression demonstrating how this character holds the power as he facepalms showing his annoyance to the audience as he then looks to his left telling the other extra characters that where shown before to “get out” which the next shot is from his perspective at his eye level angled to his left where the a extra replies with a confused and quick yet submissive “are you serous” from a big extra with a smaller extra next to him for scale to show his dominance and importance over them which the second main character replies with a louder and more demanding “Get Out!” showing once again his power over them.

The next shot is a quick stationery cut of the extras getting up off the couch showing the respect/fear they have for this character as they comply with his command and do it quite quickly.

The next shot is eye level of the first character as the other characters leave from his perspective and him turning and watching them leave and shutting the door to enclose these characters together creating tension for the audience but as the character turns back around the film ends to leave the rest up to the imagination, originally there where more scenes showing conflict between the two characters but through poor planning and technical difficulties I wasn’t able to obtain the footage and as this meets the briefs requirements I ended it there 

Short Film