Evaluation 1- Develop or Challenge

 The Title of our Film: Majority of horror titles today aren't very long and usually vary from around 1-3 words to add effect, that stand out. We chose to go for a dated look for ours, with areas that blur out of focus to imply mystery. For our image we chose to feature our pathway, just so you can't see the bridge in the background ao it gets the audience guessing what is at the end of 'The Pathway'. This is a development of the horror genre.

    Setting/Location: This location is very typical of horror films; it is deserted and dark with big shadowy trees. The first locations of horror films are often meant to imply that something bad is about to happen, they make the audience tense and build up fear. Having our victim alone in deserted, creepy woods, tells the audience she is in trouble. Dark woods are often featured in horror films and seen as a bad place to be at night, which plays into our hands of scaring our audience. In all horror films the victims are made to seem very alone and cut off from everyone else, so when they are attacked they seem to be without hope. For these reason our location very much complies with the traditions of most horror films.

 Costumes: The costume of our antagonist is too very typical, often the killers are dressed in black to conceal their identity. In our film the black clothing is used to create mystery about what our killer is as when the first on screen death happens it is make clear the killer cannot be human. In horror films the plot is often based around finding out who the killer is and what their motive is. There for completely hiding his identity

 Props: A warning is a common occurrence in horror films, it is very effective to make the audience feel like there is a bigger picture to the murders and that they have been happening for a long time. Having our note in the first 2 minutes allows us to give the audience some background knowledge so they understand the the rest of the content. Pictures of characters with murdered victims are also common in horror films as the audience can connote from the image that the character was close with the deceased. In ours specifically it tells us our victim was close to the girl giving the warning. Props such as these are common in the first 2 minutes of horror films as they help build up the storyline and set up the tension for the first death.

 Camera work and Editing: In one of our clips we made the camera to appear as if it was the killer approaching the victim. To do this, we walked with the camera rather then keeping it on the tripod. This meant that the clip was shaky, which successfully made it appear as if the shot was coming from the perspective of the killer. We included some fast jump cuts to make it feel like the character is being followed. This will put the audience on edge. Both this camera work and editing is very typical of horror films as they are very effective in rising tension. However some of the editing, such as the pixelated definition of the camera challenges the horror films of today, as many horror films are made to the rule, the more graphic the better. we chose to use the unknown to create the effect we wanted.

 Title font and style: Our title font develop the trends of modern day horror films. This is because, as shown in my research, nower days simplicity is seen as more scary. Horror film fonts tend to be very plain. This makes it seem scarier as it suggests that not even the norm is safe. We have conformed to this and chosen simple as it make the films seem more real.

 Story and how the opening sets off: Our start is very typical of horror films, as it starts with a bang and really captures the audiences attention. We did what most horror films do, teased some of the storyline to the audience and then hit them with a death. This way it forces the audience to watch on as they have seen enough to be intrigued but not enough to guess what the main plot is about.  

Genre and how the opening suggests it: The starts of horror films often happen at night, unlike ours, however the black and white, bleakness of our gives off a similar effect. The characters are often made to seem completely cut off and without hope of survival, like ours. So when they die, they appear to die all alone.

How the characters are introduced: In our first 2 minutes the only main character that is introduced is the antagonist, as the other characters are only there to give the killer a big enterence. This too is again very common of horror films. It makes the characters seem as though they are disposable, and that the killer has rain.

 Special effects:  We slowed the motion of some of our clips right down to make it seem as though time had slowed down for the killer, like it does when you are in a blind panic. This was particularly effective when we slowed the falling of the picture right down. As this signified all loss of hope for the victim. This is very typical of horror films as the slow motion build up makes the action seem faster and more impressive. We hardly used any special effects as we didnt want to make it seem too fake, because this would disrupt the continuity of our film. Most horror films will use minimal special effects of the film doesnt look really un realistic.

Final- Opening 2 minutes of Film 'The Pathway'

More Ideas for Film- Final

- The scene where I am behind the tree in black, we could use that scene again to put right at the end of the film and my body will appear and disappear in different places by the bridge and then end with me right in front of the camera too add effect after the scene of the camera going down the pathway.
- We could also going to use a scene of a little girl running around laughing during the scene of walking down the pathway at the end, to give the impression that was Emma as a child, the black figure will also appear there, to give the impression she has be haunted from a child. This scene will flash in, to set the theme of a horror.

What we're going to change about 'The Pathway' opening two minutes

In our draft of 'The Pathway', we had to change specific things to make it better as certain points of the two minutes let us down. We will be taking out the scene of the last minute as it didn't require much effort and let our marks slip. We also had to change some of the shots as Emma's face didn't blend in and there wasn't much music in the background either. To replace the 'walking down The Pathway scene' we decided on a scene where it would be at a graveyard, this would achieve more marks because it is more than just one location and it can be seen that we put more of an effort in to not just stay at one place. After feedback from Miss Martin, we have decided to put the original beginning of our film half way through at the end, and take out the 'walking down The Pathway' scene and replace it with the scene at the graveyard and put that at the beginning to give the 2 minutes more meaning and more of a storyline. We will be also adding titles to the beginning of our 2 minutes, this is to give more evidence that it's the beginning of the film and introduces cast members.

This should boost all our marks that we have missed out on in our draft and also make the 2 minutes of film more interesting to watch. It was until after we viewed the draft that Bryony, Emma, James and I had realised what was missing and will be including it our published version of the film.

Sinister- Audience Profling

Sinister shares the same genre as our film Bryony, Emma, James and I have made, so this is another example of the target audience we're trying to get watch the film as it is from the same genre, similar aged people will watch our film as well as this one. As you can see, it is most popular around the ages 15-24, this is because the younger generation would find this more thrilling and they would usually watch it in groups of people, which is why the income for the producers would be good as they would receive a lot of profit from this. More males watch this film purely because they would find it less scary, although they are most likely to be watching the film together and not alone. This film contributes to our target audience and how we would expect our audience profile to look like.

Opening 2 minutes of Film- Draft

This is our opening 2 minutes although we are a few seconds of our target, there is a bit more film to yet be added which should cover the time we haven't covered. The main pieces we need to complete are more sound effects purely at the beginning of the 2 minutes, and a few camera shots need to be edited e.g. Emma's face change needs to be blended and also the scene where I show up next to the tree needs to be ended with me not being seen, to give the impression I was never there, and the change between the Dreamworks animation and the shot of Emma walking to blend and fade it in better.

The Ring 2 Audience Profiling

This is a very similar type of film to ours, as we have used similar effects and styles that this film has used, along with the first one which I have already analysed. The most popular age group for this film is 25-34, this would be our target audience as it would attract this age as horror films are usually seen by the older teenager/younger adult generation. We would target this audience by setting the age classification as an 18 so that it will get us closer to the target audience and more groups of people are more likely to watch this film as it isn't really a film you'd watch on your own.