MEST4 Preliminary exercise

MEST4: Preliminary exercise planning

Script:





Storyboard

Shot list

MEST4 Preliminary exercise: evaluation

1) Why did you choose this particular recreation and how does it link to your main production?

I picked the parody of scream's phone call which is in the movie - Scary Movie due to the genre I'm looking at as well as the camera work used to create suspense 

2) What difficulties did you face in producing this recreation?

the difficulties during the production was the scene of when the character had to scream as she kept laughing.

3) What are the strengths of the production?

the strengths was the camera work when the character picked up the call; and the voice over fit in perfectly

4) What aspects would you look to improve?

the zoom in on the phone - wasn't focused

the music when shes running down the stairs

5) What lessons will you take from this process that will help you with your main production?

planning is significant, creating  a shot list having a location and time

6) Now that you are ready to start your actual linked production, explain clearly what you will be creating and how confident you are in delivering this.

Horror movie trailer / horror opening scene 

I have an idea in my head and know the storyline.

Linked Production brief

Your Critical Investigation topic: 

Why do audience continue watching horror movies such as insidious and paranormal activity, and what are the specific audience pleasures of horror movies?

Your Linked Production brief: 

horror trailer/ opening scene 
Length/size of production (e.g. 3 minutes, 5 pages etc.): 

3 mintues
3 pages

Give an example of an existing media text this is similar to what you plan to produce: 

Paranormal Activity / Unfriended / Insidious
Give an example of an institution that would produce or distribute your planned production:

Momentum Pictures (2011) (UK)
Distribution Company (2011)

How would your production reach its audience?

Youtube 

Who do you plan to work with on this project?


alone

Preliminary exercise: Recreation task

Name of the text you plan to recreate:

Paranormal Activity/ Unfriended

Scene/section you will recreate:

Opening

Location you will use for your recreation:

My room/ house

Actors you will require for your recreation:

Friends 
Props/costumes you will require for your recreation:

Laptop/ camera 
Casual clothing

Equipment you plan to use:

Camera
Lighting 

Any other relevant information:

Critical Investigation tutorial 09/12/15

Essay plan

Intro: Needs a little more – discuss some of the pleasures and perhaps include some stats to back up what a successful genre it is? Also consider that idea of a killer quote to open the investigation (before the title). 250 words.

Section 1: Pleasure of horror – media theory and research. This is a perfect opening section and contextualises all the analysis to come later. This will be an extensive section – loads of research and quotes here please! 600 words.

Section 2: The horror audience – bringing in gender and audience statistics. This could include more theory – but don’t drift off your question. Keep focused on horror genre and audience pleasure. 400 words.

Section 3: Primary texts – Insidious and Paranormal Activity. Link the first two sections to your primary text and have a strong section of textual analysis of key scenes. Link and refer back to theories you have already discussed. 750 words.

Section 4: Historical texts and criticism of the horror genre – particularly in terms of recent films not living up horror classics like Scream. 500 words.

Section 5: Institution context – is horror important for the film industry? Is new technology changing the genre? More people watch films on PC/tablet than in cinema now (recent change) – how does this impact on horror? This could bring in the future of the genre. You may need a little more research on this or bring in some stats from the earlier section. 300 words.

Conclusion: summing up argument and returning to the core pleasures of horror. 150 words.

Next steps… update/finish your plan based on this tutorial. You don’t need to stick to the above by any means but hopefully it has at least clarified your thinking and provided a potential structure that will be easy to follow.

Work on your intro paragraph and I’ll have a quick read next week.

This essay has great potential – it could be SERIOUSLY good! But always keep it focused on the question – horror and audience pleasure. Good topic sentences and using the wording from the question is crucial.

Critical Investigation tutorial 25/11/15

Notes & Quotes document just over 2,500 – this doesn’t include Task #1 Textual Analysis but even so it’s looking a little short (plenty of others are at 4,000+). Hopefully this tutorial will give you academic texts to read and analyse which will beef up your N&Q document.

Textual analysis – some good points but I’m worried that there isn’t much detail aside from the trailer… and that will make it look like you didn’t bother to watch the film. I know this isn’t true but be aware of it. Go back to the original movies, choose a 1-2 minute sequence and analyse the hell out of it. Why is it like that? What does it tell the audience?

Academic books/journals definitely the weak point to your research. The bibliography is very short – obviously it is unfinished but needs to be 5-6 times longer to reach the top grades AND include proper academic sources. Hopefully the BFI trip will help with this.

Where is your Media Magazine research? Loads of references to Horror – you simply need to take the time to go through each one and read it/collect relevant quotes.

Why haven’t you looked at the books in DF07? There are loads of general film books that will ALL have big sections on horror. Again, without this you won’t get anywhere near the top grades. This will also help you get media theory into the essay.

Search the Guardian again – you’ve got some web research but again could do so much more.

Bibliography needs much more – keep going back to this as you read each new text, hopefully next time I see it you’ll have 30+ sources in there.