U-22 FILM EXTRACT: Emma Hancock-Taylor: Evaluation of our Film
Thursday 26 February 2009
Emma Hancock-Taylor: Evaluation of our Film
We decided to use horror/thriller as the genre for our film as we thought it would give us the most inspiration for setting, music and the storyline. We also all agreed that it was a genre we each knew quite well and had all experienced watching before so we thought we could therefore all give good input and ideas for the film.This genre influenced these choices, for example we chose to set the film in an abandoned building on a heath as we thought this would suit the mood of the film. Similarly, as sound engineer I tried to create tense music to fit the storyline of a boy who wakes up not knowing where he is or why he is there.
As my micro aspect was sound, I found it easier to start working on ideas once we had decided on our narrative rather than the other way round. In garage band, I collected ideas and clips of music that would suit the film and then adapted it to make a sound track once the film was uploaded and edited, so that the music I used was in time and fitted with the scene changes in the film. I got inspiration from Psycho in the staircase scene as the music in this is extremely tense and dramatic which is something that I wanted to create in our film. I chose a lot of string clips as they created tension well and used some bass clips underneath to give the music texture. The music is in different sections to go with the different sections in the film. For example it changes and becomes faster when Jack goes outside to mirror the shock he is feeling when he realizes he doesn’t know where he is.
The genre was chosen in our group quite quickly as we all agreed that a horror/thriller would work well, after discussing other possibilities. As a group we came up with the narrative by each coming up with ideas and eventually looking through them to find one which we all thought would be suitable. We also looked at other film trailers and clips of our genre to get ideas and inspiration. Some of these films included, Saw, When a Stranger Calls and Psycho, as they all used aspects similar to the ones we wanted to use. For example the abductions in Saw are similar to the idea of Jack waking up in an unknown place after being put there by someone. Also the idea of tension and phone calls in When a Stranger Calls and the music in Psycho gave us inspiration.
The main character in our narrative was originally designed to suit either gender as we were not sure who we would use as an actor but once this was determined we adapted the role to fit a male character. An idea we came up with while planning the film was the CCTV shots we use in our film. Originally we were just going to show the boy waking up and what happens to him. However we added a shot at the end in which a CCTV shot of him is shown, which lets the audience know that he is being watched.
Some more of our ideas were changed and adapted particularly while on set filming, for example we couldn’t find chains to use in one of the shots so we had to change the shot to a different one of him looking out of the window. When editing the film, we decided to add more CCTV footage as well as the one shot at the end, as we thought this would give the film a more dramatic edge as it lets the audience know he is constantly being watched, which Jack (the actor) does not realise until the end when he looks up as the phone is put down. We also adapted and changed the music a lot as the film was edited differently. For example we often added new clips of music to give the piece more texture but then took away clips of music which did not sound right or give the film the right mood.
I wanted the sound to reflect the tension in the film so that the audience react to the general mood of the film. I think music is very important in creating atmosphere in film and therefore wanted the piece of music in the film to suit the dynamics and genre of the film. However I took away the music just before the phone rings as silence can often create suspense and give the idea that something is about to happen, in this case the phone ringing. The dialling tone at the end that is used with the blackout creates more suspense and leaves the audience thinking about what will happen next.
I felt that the role of sound engineer quite suited me as I have done music GCSE which included a lot of use of music computer programmes and also taught me a bit about music in films. Music in films is also a particular interest of mine so it enabled me to work with enthusiasm on the film.
The feedback on sound was generally good and we were told, ‘The sound makes it scary and makes you wonder what happened there. The music builds up suspense and makes the audience scared and on edge’, which is the effect I was hoping to create. Our other feedback was also quite positive. We were told there were a good range of shots that merged well together, the setting was good and effective and there was a good use of make-up and costume. Some of the criticisms included slightly shaky camera shots and too much repetition when Jack walks out of the shed. We can use this constructive criticism and take it into account when making other films. Overall though we were happy with our feedback.
