Ed Pryor Evaluation

For the short film extract assignment my group focussed on a horror/thriller genre mainly because of the recent work we had been doing on British horrors. In our short film there is a group of teenagers entering a forest and what starts out as a good day out soon becomes a nightmare.

The sequence we have shot is the exposition of the film; we did this because we felt that within the horror genre the introduction of the film usually has a sudden impact on the audience, this is because they aren’t expecting anything to happen right at the start. I got this idea from some films such as, the start of “The descent” where two characters are killed within a few minutes.

I specifically took the role of sound producer and editor in our short film sequence. I had to make sure that the diegetic and non-diegetic sound I used was typical of the genre, I believe I did this successfully. The research I did of watching a lot of horror/thriller films meant that I had a wide range of what kind of music and sounds work well and the impact they have on an audience. The main films that influenced my choice in sounds are below. Each of these inspired me for different parts of our film.

(Screen Grab of some sounds/music that suited the genre)

These films have helped me a lot in choosing the right music and sounds that will go with our short film extract. They also really helped with adding short sounds to add a lot of impact between shot changes. For example where the shot of one of the teenagers is walking around but then that fades away to a view from the monster. The sound is supposed to keep the audience on edge and keep up the suspense in the film. I feel that the sounds I added to these scenes have boosted the scenes impact. I was also trying to make false fears. This is where the audience feel something scary is about to happen but then it doesn’t. I feel that I have done this well but the overall impact didn’t come of as we expected. Also I used some music in the final part of my film that is showing that there isn’t really any hope for the teenagers. It is also supposed to make the audience get the idea that the teenager being chased by the monster is going to die; an added impact may have been that the audience feel a little sorry for the teenager in the end. This final scene really pleased our group because the music, editing and directing worked really well together but I don’t think the audience had as much emotion as we wanted. A final thing I did was that I put quite a jolly song at the start of which was aimed to raise the audiences spirits, of which then would have a scarier and shocking impact on the audience. This effect on the audience didn’t come of as we expected which is most likely because the following scary scenes weren’t that scary.

(Screen grab of whole thing showing sounds and the scene)

As we were doing a horror/thriller it influenced some of the decisions I have made. One decision I made was that I needed to put in quick, short and jumpy sounds for when the camera angle changes or if a shot fades away. I also had the idea of putting some fast passed music for the chase scene however it wouldn’t have been typical or suiting of the horror genre. This decision made sure the music was suiting of the genre and the final sequence was much better without it. I made the decision to have quite a lot of diegetic sound because it helps the audience understand what’s happening in the film and also makes them feel more involved in it. This is typical to horror films because they try to give the audience a lot emotion. I also chose to add some non-diegetic sounds because this adds suspense and also adds more impact to a scary scene or shot. Another decision I made was that it would be good to have some jolly music at the start of which I got the idea from one of the movies I watched. This influenced me because quite a few films I have watched had a happy/jolly start but then things soon went wrong. This is very typical technique in a horror/thriller film.

(Screen grab of sound timeline)

We all developed the narrative; characters and genre together that made it better because we mixed all our best ideas together. I developed the narrative using sound so that the audience can tell from the music something good or bad is about to happen. I was able to use sound to increase the amount of senses the audiences uses of which developed their understanding of the narrative and enhanced their involvement. Also I tried using sound to give the audience a false feeling something scary will happen that added to the unpredictability of the film.

One thing we had to change was that the teenagers were going to be camping but it was too difficult to get the equipment. This made our storyline weaker. From the feedback we got, a tent would have made a better storyline and less confusing to the audience. Also because it was winter we couldn’t get a great forest look this made us keep changing our ideas on where to film. This made the film less effective due to the set and wasted some time.

We wanted the audience to respond by sitting on their edge of their seat, mystified as to what will happen next and want to see the rest of the film. From the feedback we received I can say the film was good but didn’t have all the impacts and reactions we wanted to give the audience. The feedback shows that my sound was a success and suited the genre and some of the angles and editing were also a success, however we didn’t get the shocking feeling we were aiming for. This is most likely because of the set and some of the shots. I think if we shot it in the dark the whole film would have worked better and we would have got the response we wanted where the audience is scared and want to watch more. Another piece of feedback was that the song at the start didn’t really suit the film. From this I noticed that the song should have had more suiting lyrics and beat to the film. I can see from the feedback that the last 30 seconds of our film was a big success. I am pleased with the outcome of our short film and especially the last 30 seconds because everything works very well.

(Our final film)

This is a photo of the sounds that i used to make it seem like there is a monster stalking the teenagers. I really liked it because it was a simple sound at first then is lowed it down to create a sound like a monster is breathing and hunting the people.

This is a photo of the sounds i used for the scene in which the monster takes one of the teenagers scarfs. I realy like the sound.

This is a photo of the sounds i used to inspire me for the music in our film.

This is a screen grab of just the sounds and showing the way i have overlapped them.

Screen Grab of whole final cut showing my inspiration sound in top right, my favorite scene with the way the music is with the image. Also can see the sound at the bottom showing how i have built it up.

POSSIBLE LOCATIONS

woodland areas for the tent scene in which something is following the characters.

STORYBOARDING

this is the original idea for the story board, showing it start off with the point of view scene in the tent.



the second scene shows another point of view shot, this time from the monster looking at the tent.



the third then shows the same point of view shot from the characters staring up seeing the tent is being opened, but only by a friend.



this shot shows a medium shot showing the characters walk through the woods, and 'something' runs past in the background.



the fifth shot is the point of view shot from the monster again, watching them walk through the forest.



the final shot is a medium shot showing the monster entering the tent, which would then lead to an over the shoulder shot.

CAMERA SHOTS WE ARE INTERESTED IN

canted angle


this is a point of view shot of what the werewolf see's in Dog Soldiers


this is a close up shot, first showing the monster in full.


a revealing shot seeing the zip being opened, which is the sort of thing we would like to include in ours.

INFLUENCES

the only influence from these films are the ways in which the creatures/monsters appear like.

the main influence from this clip which we want to use is the quick editing between the point of view shot looking at the zip open, and the shot showing the characters looking at it.


from this film the main influence is the extreme and normal close up shots, revealing what the monsters look like.