Kristy Simpson - Inspirations etc

Our main inspiration for our film is the ring 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYkw8PMyGAc 
The inspiration was mainly the threat. The threat in our film will resemble the ring, in a way we are using the ring to promote our movie as The Ring has a reputation and is a franchise.
The threat in our film will be similar to the ring but not the same. We want the makeup and costume to be similar but obviously we won't be able to create The Ring exactly. 
We wanted to have the long black hair covering the face. When you see the face in our film the skin is very pale and dry, flaking off, just a general horrific look.

The story is also very much alike The Ring.

A girl is in the house alone, we see her mum go out. The audience can tell something is watching the girl because of the range of shots we will use to show this (such as the shot which is outside looking in from the top of the garden through a bush), the girl is not aware something is watching her. The girl goes upstairs and sits down when the light outside comes on, she leans out to see what turned it on but nothing is there, she waits until th light turns out and then she decides to forget about it so she turns around and the lights go out. The girls swears but doesn't panic too much, she grabs her phone and presses it too try and shed some light, stood in front of her is the threat. We can only see the threat by the light on the phone so it is quite dim. The last shot we see is the bloody smile, also known as the death smile which is where the name for our film came from.

Inspired Film - Gem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gIuCfnmPQg
The Ring is one of the main films that inspired us in the production of the film. We got alot of our ideas from the conventions that are followed int he film, such as the threat being unknown, the stereotypical female characters etc.

Word Cloud - Gem

This is a word cloud on an article about the horror film sub-genre ghost, which is the sub genre of our film. The world cloud shows that 'house, mystery, supernatural, ghost, black, sense and childhood' are all words that are common. These words follow the conventions of a typical ghost horror film.

Pitch Planning - Gem

 This is the planning for our pitch before we actually presented it. Our group sat down and answered the questions in relation to our film idea and genre. We then made a powerpoint presentation on it which Jess did as me and kirsty decided we was going to present it and put forward our ideas to the class.

Title Sequence visual planning sheet! -Gem

 

 These are our ideas on our title sequence, We have to shoot the images ourselves as we are not alloud to use the internet to retain images etc. We have used images that represent our horror sub-genre (Deman/Ghost). We have used inpiration from the film 'The ring' in some places. The visuals we are going to use are going to show some history of the 'Threat' so that the audience can get an idea of whats going on. We are also using some imagens that contrain special effects (i.e black and white effect) this wil engage the audience more so that they will want to watch the rest of the film. We are using a white rage of images that will build on suspence, aswell as using a soundtrack that will ber spinechilling and make the audience on edge.

Pitch Feedback - Gemma :)

Me and my group did our recorded pitch infron of the class.

We did pretty well! We got some good feedback on negatives and positives on our ideas. We also got some help from the class, we wasn't to sure whether or not to call our film 'Death Smile' After having a discussion with the class, we all decided that Death Smile was best suited name. We also discuissed:
-The opening sequence to our film
-What Films inspired our ideas
-Our title sequence visual ideas
-The film title
-How we will engage the audience
-Our target audience
-The age certificate of our film.
After fineshing our pitch, we went out of the room so our classmates could comment on what they thought about our whole idea.

Some of the positive feedbacks we go were:

• We had lots of detail in our presentation
• Our idea is very realistic
• Our group had done alot of research, so we know exactly what we are doing.

Some of the Negative Feedback we got was:

• The work load of our presentation wasnt equal
• Our idea is very much like the film we got inspiration from (the ring)
• We didn't have a clear specific target audience.

Following the feedback, our group has discussed about the negatives. We have decided to carry on with our idea even though it is alot like the ring, aslong as we don't copy frame from frame the film, we will be okay, its better to follow conventions rather than making a film that isnt specific to its genre. We have also talked about the target audience. We have decided that our film is for 13-18 year olds, as this age group can relate to our film better, and imprint on them which will make them feel asif they are in the film, and become more engaged.

BBFC Research - Gemma

BBFC stands for 'The british board of film classification', it is a non government organisation and is funded by the film industry. The BBFC is a statutory requirment to classify videos, video games, DVD's and filmsn under 'The video Recording act'.

The BBFC rates unreleased films and video games to recommend which circumstances they are released in. Usually, the local authorities are legally able to do this, however they usually follow the recommendations of the BBFC. The BBFC use a system of certificates to rate each video, film and game, these are essentially age groups of which media is put in to, where people of a certain age can only view. People who are not older than an age certificate will not be able to purchase/watch the game/film/video etc. legally.
The Age Certificates are Grouped like this:

This is the Universal Certificate. All ages are permitted to view anything with this Certificate, nothing is unsuitable for children over the ages of 4

This is the Perental Guidance Certificate. All ages are permitted to view anything with this certificate, however some scenes may be unsuitable for children under the years of age. In The cinema, Children under the ages of 8 are to be companied by an adult.
This is the 12 age certificate. Nobody under the age of 12 may buy or watch films/DVD's/Videos/Video games etc. with this category. Films in this category may include infrequent drugs, infrequent use of strong language, brief nudity, discreet sexual activity, and moderate violence.
This is the 15 age certificate. Nobody under the age of 15 will be permitted to watch/purchase any type of media within this category. Media in this contain can include adult themes, hard drugs, strong language, moderate-strong violence/sex references, and mild non-detailed sex activity.

This is the 18 age certificate. Nobody under the ages of 18 will be permitted to watch/purchase any typer of media within the category. Films withing this category have no limitation on the use of swearing or harsh language used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and strong violence/sex references along with strong sexual activity is also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context.

We have decided to have our film within the '15 Age certificate' Category. Pur film does not contain strong sex references or hard drugs. However our film will include the use of drugs, alcohol, horror and moderate strong violence. These may not be suited for younger viewers.

Kristy Simpson- Shot Examples

Kristy Simpson Feedback from Pitch

Today me and my group pitched our ideas for our film to the class. In our pitch we included The title of our film. We couldn't decide what to call it but we had a few ideas, the class voted for death smile so out film will be called Death Smile. 
Our treatment: Two weeks after a family move into a new house strange things begin to happen, but when they realise what, its too late.
We introduced our ideas on our story and the opening sequence and explained what certificate and what target audience we thought it was aimed at.


We gathered various feedback from our pitch.
The positives I gathered were:

• It was very clear and detailed
• We gave lots of information
• We are organised
• Our idea is realistic 
• We gave good examples and inspirations
• They liked the title "Death Smile"

The negatives I gathered were:

• The Ring (our main inspiration) is a lot like our idea
• We were quite nervous when presenting 
• Not everyone took part in the pitch
• The clip was irrelevant (too long, didn't involve much action)

From this feedback we can see that the group liked our idea for our film, although it was very much like the ring. They thought it was very realistic so we probably won't change anything along the storyline, make-up, costumes or locations. 

Title Research - Jess Freeman.

Dark Water

http://www.youtube.com/user/bilboroumediastudie1#p/c/314E0D160F58FAE9/0/MORknnl503A

What institutional information are we given in the opening titles?

As soon as the film begins we learn that the production company is Touchstone Pictures. We then see a place and date (Seattle 1974) appear at the bottom of the screen as the action beings. We then see another date appear after a little girl isn't picked up from school on time. The date says New York 2005 and there is a grown up woman, suggesting she is the little girl who's mother didn't pick her up. About 4 minutes into the film, it is introduced properly, saying 'touchstone pictures presents....a pandemonium/vertigo entertainment production.....dark water'

How is this presented (fonts/style)?

The text is all in capitals and the font is quite an old style. The title Dark Water is mirrored and is emphasised more to show this is the title of the film. The dates and places and shown also in the same text, showing a pattern in the text used. I think the old fashioned writing puts an emphasis on the genre of film it is - a horror movie.

What visuals do we see? How does this relate to the genre?

The visuals we see are the young girl waiting in the rain for her mum to pick her up from school and then he playing a with a small instrument kind of thing. There is a close-up of the little girls face to show her frustration at her mother not being there on time. This relates to the genre because we see the young girl is vulnerable and we don't know what is going to happen to her, will her mum come to pick her up? Then we see a woman with arguing with a man in a lawyers office. I don't think this part relates to the genre very well as you can not tell it a horror film by seeing this part although it relates to the story line as they are discussing where the little girl should live.

What can you learn from this title sequence for your own?

From this title sequence, i have learnt to make sure i stick to conventions of my genre and make it clear what genre my film is. Also, engaging the audience is important, as I don't think Dark Water has done very well.


Rabid

http://www.youtube.com/user/bilboroumediastudie1#p/c/314E0D160F58FAE9

What institutional information are we given in the opening titles?

The film begins with 'New World Pictures' being shown 3 times in different colours, all blending into one. Then the action begins and at the right hand side of the screen it says 'Dunning/Link/Reitman present' ....' Marylin Chambers and Frank Moore in RABID' Other names also appear, informing the audience of the actors in the film. The make-up artist and designers are also mentioned, as well as music supervisors and writers etc.

How is this presented (fonts/style)?

This information is presented all in a yellow font, the main thing standing out is the title again, this being the only thing shown in capital letters. I feel however, that too much information is given at this part of the film which is not needed - such as make-up artists etc. The yellow colour doesn't suit the genre of the film, black or red would have been more effective to suit it.

What visuals do we see? How does this relate to the genre?

The visuals we see from the beginning are two people on a motorbike together going very fast down a road and then a family get their car stuck in the middle of the road and are aruging. I don't think that this relates to the genre at all and this seems like more of an action film judging from the bit i have watched. From watching the beginning of this film, I don't think the audience would be able to pick up that this is a horror film.

What can you learn from this title sequence for your own?

From this title sequence I can learn again, to keep to the point and make the genre of film obvious to the audience, as to keep them more engaged.

Feeback from pitch - Jess Freeman.

Today we did our pitch for our film and recieved the follwing feedback...

Positives:

• the film and pitch was well planned out and it was all very organized.
• the presentation was good (examples of shots were good and a lot of effort was put in)
• information was put across clearly.

In our pitch, we spoke about the title sequence and the visuals we are going to be using. We also included shots of how the film would go, from beginning to end (as mentioned above in the feedback).

Negatives:

• the idea of the film is very similar to a current film (the ring)
• video section of the ring was irrelevant.

We also showed a clip of the ring which was our inspiration for this film, however as shown by the feedback, I think we should have showed a different clip from the film, as we showed the beginning and not much happend.

General comments overall:

• really organized
• good ideas
• well explained

After receiving this feedback I think our group will try and make this film less like the current film, the ring. However our idea of the threat is similar to the threat in the ring, the rest of the film doesn't involve the same type of things. There is no video tape in ours and we have planned to end our film with the threat standing in the young girls room, leaving it to the audience's imagination as to what happens next. There is no evidence to suggest that it follows the same story line as the ring does. Also I think it is good that it is similar to a current horror film as this shows we have stuck to the conventions of our ghost genre.

Kristy Simpson - IMDb

                 The Ring 2002

Votes	Average
Males	71,285	7.2
Females	15,524	7.2
Aged under 18	1,477	7.2
Males under 18	992	7.2
Females under 18	477	7.4
Aged 18-29	52,581	7.2
Males Aged 18-29	41,950	7.2
Females Aged 18-29	10,349	7.2
Aged 30-44	28,070	7.2
Males Aged 30-44	23,914	7.2
Females Aged 30-44	3,842	7.3
Aged 45+	4,625	7.0
Males Aged 45+	3,863	7.0
Females Aged 45+	693	6.7
IMDb staff	18	7.2
Top 1000 voters	752	6.9
US users	26,789	7.2
Non-US users	57,574	7.2
IMDb users	107,437	7.2

From this graph we can see that MALES AGED 18 - 29 are watching and commenting on the ring the most.
I think the target audience for The Ring was mostly females from under 18 because they gave it the highest rating although only 477 voted.
You could also say that it was aimed at the male population in general as 71,285 rated it and gave it a 7.2, which isn't the lowest rating on there. 
You can see that the older the people are the ratings go down.






             The Grudge 2004

	Votes	Average
Males	35,854	5.7
Females	8,320	5.7
Aged under 18	786	5.9
Males under 18	513	5.9
Females under 18	269	6.1
Aged 18-29	26,815	5.6
Males Aged 18-29	21,195	5.7
Females Aged 18-29	5,510	5.6
Aged 30-44	14,182	5.8
Males Aged 30-44	11,974	5.8
Females Aged 30-44	2,082	5.8
Aged 45+	2,361	5.9
Males Aged 45+	1,933	5.9
Females Aged 45+	404	5.5
IMDb staff	9	6.4
Top 1000 voters	566	5.6
US users	13,641	5.5
Non-US users	29,454	5.8
IMDb users	53,448	5.7

From this graph we can see that MALES AGED 18 - 29 are watching and commenting on The Grudge the most. 
The Ring and The Grudge are quite similar films.
The highest rating given to this film was 6.1 and was rated by Females under 18 but only 269 Females under 18 voted.
What is quite weird is that on this graph Females 45+ gave it the lowest rating, this also happened for The Ring.
The target audience for this film I think is people, both males and females, under 18 because they've both rated it quite high. Also I found that although males aged 18 - 29 were the people who saw and voted the most, they didn't give it a very high rating. 
Also out of all the age categories the more males voted than females.








        Paranormal Activity 3 2011

	Votes	Average
Males	10,290	6.3
Females	2,564	6.6
Aged under 18	1,159	6.7
Males under 18	834	6.7
Females under 18	304	6.8
Aged 18-29	8,817	6.6
Males Aged 18-29	6,975	6.6
Females Aged 18-29	1,746	6.6
Aged 30-44	2,532	6.1
Males Aged 30-44	2,083	6.0
Females Aged 30-44	419	6.7
Aged 45+	445	5.4
Males Aged 45+	355	5.4
Females Aged 45+	87	5.7
Top 1000 voters	57	5.6
US users	4,340	6.5
Non-US users	6,018	6.3
IMDb users	13,256	6.4

From this graph we can see that, again, MALES AGED 18 - 29 are that majority of people  than have seen and rated Paranormal Activity 3 the most. 
Again Females under 18 rated it the highest, they gave it 6.8. 
The target audience for this film I think was people under 18 because they gave it a rough rating of 6.8/6.7 which is the highest ratings on there.
As the voters got older, the less they liked the film.






             Insidious 2010

	Votes	Average
Males	33,029	6.8
Females	7,689	6.9
Aged under 18	1,950	7.6
Males under 18	1,362	7.6
Females under 18	576	7.5
Aged 18-29	26,468	7.0
Males Aged 18-29	21,064	7.0
Females Aged 18-29	5,207	7.0
Aged 30-44	10,890	6.6
Males Aged 30-44	9,191	6.7
Females Aged 30-44	1,582	6.6
Aged 45+	1,585	6.4
Males Aged 45+	1,274	6.4
Females Aged 45+	282	6.8
IMDb staff	8	6.1
Top 1000 voters	259	6.5
US users	10,749	7.0
Non-US users	24,947	6.7
IMDb users	42,428	6.8

We can see that the majority of people who saw and rated this film were 
MALES AGED 18 - 29.
This time the males under 18 gave the film the highest rating, 7.6.
I think it was aimed at people under 29 a these were the people that gave them the highest ratings. 
This time Females aged 45+ gave it a 6.8 whereas Males aged 45+ only gave it 6.4 (the lowest score)




             The Awakening

	Votes	Average
Males	302	7.2
Females	91	7.7
Aged under 18	28	8.0
Males under 18	17	8.2
Females under 18	11	7.4
Aged 18-29	214	7.3
Males Aged 18-29	159	7.4
Females Aged 18-29	54	7.1
Aged 30-44	112	7.3
Males Aged 30-44	95	7.0
Females Aged 30-44	16	9.0
Aged 45+	42	6.1
Males Aged 45+	30	5.9
Females Aged 45+	10	6.6
Top 1000 voters	10	8.3
US users	42	6.7
Non-US users	308	7.3
IMDb users	417	7.3

This graph shows that MALES AGED 18 - 29 have seen and commented on this film the most.
The highest rating was 9 and was rated by females aged 30 - 44. Although females in this age range enjoyed it quite a lot more males in this age range went to see it and did't enjoy it as much. Also for all the other age ranges males voted higher than females so I think that the target audience is going to be older people, up to the age of 44.