http://dreamdplans.blogspot.co.uk/#!/2013/04/dream-demise-film.html

Media Film Evaluation

Our media product uses conventions of a real thriller in a variety of different ways such as using an unnatural feel to it by firstly, only using one sort of camera shot which was in the first person of myself to give the viewer an uncomfortable feel and to make them feel how I felt not knowing what was going on when the light had been turned off. This is effective because it makes the audience feel on edge and not knowing what’s going to happen next so therefore, leaving them as vulnerable as my character felt in the scene. There is a part that gives a very paranormal effect to the film as after the light had been turned off I go to check the doors to the only exits in the room to find out they’ve all been locked, a chair flies across the room, this gives the audience the feel of uneasiness and causes suspension of what could possibly happen next. The soundtrack which is by a band called ‘Despite My Deepest Fear’ is a good choice because it is slow, calm but eerie in the first 46 seconds of it, then as the paranormal starts to happen the pace picks up and there’s a voice on the soundtrack which gives it a more violent feel and shows the panic which I am feeling in the scene which also makes the audience feel uncomfortable because the music starts to become very up tempo and at a very quick pace so gets the heart beating that more faster as you don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Jamie then enters the room to reveal the shocking revelation that Reece, who was supposed to be meeting me has had a terrible accident and has unfortunately died by falling down the stairs, which makes the audience wonder if the happenings which were going on with myself links to the unfortunate death of Reece. You see myself rush out of the room to see what was going on as it subverts the audience as I relate Reece to the paranormal happenings which was going on in the room so the audience actually thinks that Reece was the main core of it. The scream is very symbolic as it indicates the severity of the incident. Straight after the scream the audience are then quickly diverted to myself sitting up in panic, in bed and that is a very strong point as it is like a sting as it stuns the audience into changing their feelings from almost feeling bad to waking up themselves. They then see me trying to call Reece to make sure it was actually all a dream and as a surprise there is a sinister voice of a girl crying for help which makes the audience wonder what has actually happened to Reece, if it was an incident or on purpose. This is a very good twist as it undermines what might have happened with the paranormal side of things as the voice is very sly and confusing. The visuals are then cut out so then you could hear the voice but then start to see the credits, this means that the audience are then on the end of their seats as it ends on a cliff hanger and leaving them wanting to know what is going to happen next and it helps to impact the mystery of the scene. The name ‘Dream Demise’ is a very good title to our film as it means you dream a death which is exactly what happens in our opening, the title gives away just about a death in it but it doesn’t give away too much as there is an ill-fated turn of events and it isn’t just a dream but is intertwined with reality. Knowing that it was the first two minutes of the film, it was vital that we actually didn’t give away much because then it’d ruin the whole film, so we made sure that the audience would give a little taster to them so that they felt the urge to watch more. We chose to have it for an age rating of 12+ so that means we couldn’t show physical gory violence neither could we use a lot of strong language.

In conclusion, I think that we didn’t work the best as we could as there were some bumps on the way. We should’ve worked on a professional level at all times to get the film done as quick as we could. I personally think I should’ve put a lot more effort in when I could’ve. Looking back on how we did as a group producing this product we now know that we need to do a lot of managing at the beginning when we first started planning so we knew exactly what was going to happen and everyone is thoroughly informed so there are no implications as the previous things we did obviously didn’t work the best they could. All in all we got a film done and I’m happy we pulled it together even if it was last minute.

Todorov's Theory

This theory can be broken down into 5 simple steps.

1.A state of equilibrium (just as everything should be).

2.A disruption of this order, by an event.

3.A recognition that the disorder has occurred.

4.An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.

5.Restoration of a new equilibrium or a return to the first state of equilibrium.

This idea states that everything would end in an equilibrium however this would be unconventional of a thriller movie in that not everything is as it should be in the order that things happen. This presents itself in films such as Captin America as the ‘hero’ at the end of the film says, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”. This shows us that it is not typical for the hero to always complete his task and have a happy ending, because he is saying that if he is hero long enough he will eventually become a villan

Target audience

Our target audience is something we had to think about because you can't make the age rating high as it isn't going to be that scary as it is a thriller so initially we thought that the target audience can be at a rating of 12 and above as there is violence it but no violence will be shown, we thought this would be a suitable age rating for a thriller giving those circumstances

Raynes park sports ground

This is a picture of raynes park sports ground. There are long paths heading to a bench which is a good location but it's not the best as train tracks are on the left of the picture and they come every couple of minutes.

Change of idea

We initially had the idea of having it down an alley but seeing as we can't do it out of school time we will have to film on raynes park sports ground this is both a bad and good location as not very many people go by and it's closer to school, the only downfall to it is that trains go by every couple of minutes. It is a limitation as if we are in the middle of a shot and a train passes we will have to stop the shot each time so it is quite an unreliable location. If we are able to take the camera out after school times it will benefit us a lot as we would be able to shoot when it's dark and in our primary location and it would lead to where we are shooting our secondary scene

Complications

We have a few complications with where we want to set our film, our initial idea was to set the first bit of our film on an alley in putney but as we can't take the school camera out after school hours that means we can't use them. With this complication we are unsettled with how we're going to film when it's dark. We thought we could use a camera phone to make the filming a different quality to show that the couple are being watched which gives out a different effect.

Location

The location to our clip will be filmed in a suitable location which we need to be able to find somewhere which has a long walkway, we have minor obstacles as we are not allowed to take the camera out of school grounds after school hours. As a group we have spoken about this and have come to a conclusion that if that isn't possible we need to find other alternatives such as using another camera or using a camera phone.  There will be another location to our clip which will need to be set in a bedroom, the purpose of that is to portray the idea of her waking up from her dream. it shows the audience that her insanity and anxiety are being tested as she wakes up not knowing what's real life or fantasy.

Subverting the audience

Referring to the costume ideas, this means that the audience undermines the character and it subverts their attention to thinking that straight away the hooded character is ultimately going to be the 'villan' whereas, further on in the clip they will realise that he is not in fact the bad guy and there is much younger evil lurking. We are doing this so that the audience are more intrigued in the beginning of the clip because if they aren't they may not want to carry on watching the rest of the film.

Costume ideas

It is important to think about what our main character, Annabelle will be wearing as that is the first thing the audience will be seeing. Our idea of her wearing converses represents youth, also that she is working class and dresses like a stereotypical teenage girl. She will also be wearing leggings which will help represent that she likes to wear casual clothes. Lastly she will be wearing a baggy jumper also to show that she likes casual clothing and doesn't feel the need to dress up.


Our other character Kendrick will be wearing jogging gear with his hood up as in the beginning he needs to be able to look intimidating for the following event. The hood needs to be big enough to hide his face so that the audience doesn't have any suspicion too early in the film.

First idea for Dream Demise

Initially, the first idea we came up with was to have a classical thriller with one bad guy and an inoccent young girl, walking and giving the audience an idea of the guy was trouble and that something would happen endagering the girl. After thorough dicussion we came up with the conclusion that this was too much of a typical plot for a thriller and wouldn't interest the audience as we'd hope to.