Final Poster

We decided to create a more polysemic poster, the wood signifying the coffin and the blood signifying the vampire. The poster however does not give away that the protagonist is a vampire nor does it reveal the identity of the characters since the actors are not famous.

Posters

I wanted to signify vampires withoutusing a face since none of our cast are famous. Hence I like the first but it will need to be made clearer as to the narrative. I will need to add a rating, a release date, a slogan and titles to them. 

Problems we had with the technologies in creating the product.

We had a lot of sound files which made the production very complicated.








 It was also difficult to add the titles in too which is why I made them a flash file and why there is a spelling mistake. 

  I was good at adding the blue filter and although it didn't make my preferred reading and look like night it did look like a dream.

How our film uses develops or challenges the codes and conventions of a real media product.

The wood is an inter-textual link to twilight.

The coffin is an intetextual link to the story of Dracula.













The blonde girl was to signify a scream queen like in Brotherhood of Blood


The flashbacks were in a blue filter to signify a dream as in many movies.

The soundtrack reflected the noises of the forrest much like other soundtracks such as the Titanic one.

The titles were an inter-textual reference to Halloween

The surprise in finding out the girl was a vampire came from Buffy the Vampire Slayer 

Developing the Narrative

We started originally by having the protagonist beginning in her bedroom  se walks down the street on her phone. The boyfriend finds her with a dead body and backs away. We end with her the next day as she's received a text saying how could you. 

The next Idea was that we had her meeting up with her boyfriend the boyfriend screams and runs away and again she receives a tex

t.

The last idea involved her metting up he has set a camp up for her they approach, he turns around but she chases him she wakes up in a coffin. 
We decided to have her meeting him in the forrest because she can't face other people but needs to tell her boyfriend. She rings him wondering where he is. Their is a stalker following her she screams. The boyfriend runs for her. By this time is a lot of narrative enigma as to the identity of the villain. We realise she is a murder because she is stood next to a dead body then we realise she's a vampire.  She wakes up from a dream but then she realises she is in a coffin and that it turns out to be true. 

Final Cut

Looking Back at the prelim task what do you feel you have learnt in the proggression to the full product?

We begun with some well thought out mise en scene and camera angles similar to our Swede. The cinimatography was our strength. However unlike the swede we had to design a narrative which was difficult because we were trying to include 3 intertextual links used but neither of them made sense in the narrative which were: the coffin, the forrest and vampires. We also chose them because we had them available and wanted to make it look good. Eventually we decided she was in the forrest because she wanted to tell her boyfriend alone away from the temptation to bite. She was being stalked by a jelous boy but in the end it was her that bit him. She woke up in a coffin because she thought it was all a dream but then she realises its real and that she fell asleep in a coffin. We then had to think of a relevant title which was difficult because so many have allready been taken. We chose "Mistake" the mistake being her inability to resist bitting the stalker and making her boyfriend realise she is a vampire. I believe we shot the footage we had to have 2 days if shooting due to the rain this enabled us to plan more carefully our shots. Casting was difficult because it involved actors who were available which is why eventually we had to act act as the cast. Editing the shots wasn't difficult but creating anchorage was. This is why we added voice over and a soundtrack. Finding and editing all sundfiles was difficult because they all overlapped I also had to get the music withou gaps in. You may notice camera tapping noises in the diagetic sound this is because I didn't notice this during the edititing process and if i had noticed it, it would have been too difficult to loacate the files and edit them to a fluid sound. The voice over was dificult to match to the footage yet still create narrative engima and make sense. The production company titles could have been spent more time on since they are of similar colours. The main titles are good because they match the genre.

In all I believe our product is intertextually and visually well designed but it lacks anchorage and sound quality. This is different from the swede because the narrative and sounds were allready designed.

Rough Cut 3

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?

We have a female villain which is countertypical she is blonde to challenge the conventions and suprise the audience.The story is based on vampires therefore the use of a coffin, forrest, blood and romance is stereptypical of the gothic horror genre genre.However more countertypically it is centred around teenage romance which is more in lign with modern movies such as Twilight and True Blood. We added the blue to this to signify nightime but it signified more a dream to our audience which we kept as it was also our preffered reading.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We countertypically have a female protaganist and villain who is violent yet stereotypically romantic. All the actors are young which is stereotypical as a lot of mischief occurs. The actors are all able and white which is stereotypical due to avaialability of disabled or black actors we also fail to represent homosexuals. Countertypically although this is a british film it doesn't show the idillic middle class view of british people.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Hammer Horror used Universal but in moder times they would be too expensive so I would use a cheap distributer such as the one Warp X use optimum releasing as the audience will be uk based.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

13-25 UK based both male and female and working class.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Using a young cast to attract a young audience. Adding romance to gain female interest with horror aand fantasy apealing the male audience. The use of Britain not in the idilistic view that films such as Bridget Jones diary are in signifies the film is intended for a smal local UK based audience. We signified the prefered reading by putting the clips in order.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

was difficult because we had to use the unedited original footage in order to change the colouring.The sound needs inproving perhas re- recording to get it all the same level. Camera's look best on a fixed tripod rather than moving them or trying to track them. We don't have enough coffin clips this scene may need re-shooting. The voiceover needs improving to provide more anchorage . The church images are not needed and do not make sense.

How our film appeals to a modern audience

We chose the gothic horror genre beause it combines the use of fantasy, romance and horror which appeals to modern audiences. The top 3 films [IMDB] in box office this week begining 26/04/10 are  "How to Train Your Dragon" which is a family fantasy adventure our film contains elements of fantasy by including vampires. The next film is "The Back-Up Plan which is a Rom Com our film contains elements of romance between the vampire and her boyfriend. The next film is "Date Night" which is described by IMDB as a thriller, comedy, romance which again our film includes elements of. A recent film of the month  is "Twilight: New Moon" which is a gothic horror fantasy romance and made $142,839,137  on the opening weekend. [NEW MOON IMDB]  So as you can see my genre appeals to modern audiences. Ashes to Ashes series 3 is renowned for using lots of polysemy andf narrative enigma. Episode 4 featured the protaganist having visions of herself in a coffin it signified serialism by using serial lighting much like we did in the forrset scene. The blue filter in ours was originally supposed to signify night but it signified more a dream which it was. The red lighting in our coffin scene is intended to confuse the audience and create polysemy as to the setting of reality and create narrative enigma as to the outcome of the protaganist. Red also signifies blood, passion and love issues which surround our prtaganist while blue signifies the cold, saddness and horror.

Rough Cut 2

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?
We have a female villain which is countertypical she is blonde to challenge the conventions and suprise the audience.The story is based on vampires therefore the use of a coffin, forrest, blood and romance is stereptypical of the gothic horror genre genre.However more countertypically it is centred around teenage romance which is more in lign with modern movies such as Twilight and True Blood. We added the blue to this to signify nightime.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
We countertypically have a female protaganist and villain who is violent yet stereotypically romantic. All the actors are young which is stereotypical as a lot of mischief occurs. The actors are all able and white which is stereotypical due to avaialability of disabled or black actors we also fail to represent homosexuals. Countertypically although this is a british film it doesn't show the idillic middle class view of british people.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Hammer Horror used Universal but in moder times they would be too expensive so I would use a cheap distributer such as the one Warp X use optimum releasing as the audience will be uk based.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
13-25 UK based both male and female and working class.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Using a young cast to attract a young audience. Adding romance to gain female interest with horror aand fantasy apealing the male audience. The use of Britain not in the idilistic view that films such as Bridget Jones diary are in signifies the film is intended for a smal local UK based audience. We signified the prefered reading by putting the clips in order.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We changed the purple
to

It was difficult because we had to use the unedited original footage in order to change the colouring.

The sound needs inproving perhas re- recording to get it all the same level. Camera's look best on a fixed tripod rather than moving them or trying to track them. We don't have enough coffin clips this scene may need re-shooting. The voiceover needs improving to provide more anchorage . The tripod didn't need the muffler on and the original diagetic sound was better the scream will need re-recording.

Soundtrack

I have chosen the following soundtrack for Rouch Cut 2 because it disettles the audience yet to begin with is slow pace with long drawn out notes to get the audience off guard therefore shock them more. The use of windinstruments reflects the birdsong in the forrest just as in Titanic the music reflects the engine sounds of the ship. The music speeds up to increase the pace of the chase though in the first draft of it it was too pacy over the coffin scene which is meant to be slow. So for the second draft of it I slowed it down here to create a further climax for the titles. The guitar appeals to a modern audience and reflects the boystrous contetypical representation of a female vampire lead. This music came frome smaples in Adobe Sound Booth their website [LINK] states

"2.6 Restrictions on Use. You may not: use, copy, modify, or transfer copies of the Audio Content except as provided for in this License; remove any proprietary notices or labels from the Audio Content; redistribute, sell, duplicate, or rent the Audio Content except as a non-separable part of a derivative work as noted herein; or rent, lease, sublicense or assign the Audio Content or any copy thereof to another person or legal entity. Other than as part of your own original compositions, you may not modify adopt translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or create derivative works based on the Audio Content"

I chose not to include the music in rough cut 3 and the final cut because it is a grey area. I made the next soundtrack using cubase and a proffesional musician to create the most fitting music. The difficulty came in editng the music as one yet to still fit the footage. The music invlovels obeos, violins and tamberins choosing wind instruments to reflect the sounds of the forrest. I added an organ at home as an intertextual link to gothic horror. I used the faders in
Imovie to make the music less disjointed and make it climax at points throughout the production.

Raw Footage

We have a female villain which is countertypical she is blonde to challenge the conventions and suprise the audience.



The story is based on vampires therefore the use of a coffin, forrest, blood and romance is stereptypical of the gothic horror genre genre.

However more countertypically it is centred around teenage romance which is more in lign with modern movies such as Twilight and True Blood.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
We countertypically have a female protaganist and villain who is violent yet stereotypically romantic. All the actors are young which is stereotypical as a lot of mischief occurs. The actors are all able and white which is stereotypical due to avaialability of disabled or black actors we also fail to represent homosexuals. Countertypically although this is a british film it doesn't show the idillic middle class view of british people.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Hammer Horror used Universal but in moder times they would be too expensive so I would use a cheap distributer such as the one Warp X use optimum releasing as the audience will be uk based.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
13-25 UK based both male and female and working class.

How did you attract/address your audience?
Using a young cast to attract a young audience. Adding romance to gain female interest with horror aand fantasy apealing the male audience. The use of Britain not in the idilistic view that films suchas Bridget Jones diary are in signifies the film is intended for a smal local UK based audience. We signified the prefered reading by putting the clips in order.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The sound needs inproving perhas re- recording to get it all the same level. Camera's look best on a fixed tripod rather than moving them or trying to track them. We don't have enough coffin clips this scene may need re-shooting.

Rough Cut

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?

We have a female villain which is countertypical she is blonde to challenge the conventions and suprise the audience.The story is based on vampires therefore the use of a coffin, forrest, blood and romance is stereptypical of the gothic horror genre genre.However more countertypically it is centred around teenage romance which is more in lign with modern movies such as Twilight and True Blood. We added the blue to this to signify nightime.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We countertypically have a female protaganist and villain who is violent yet stereotypically romantic. All the actors are young which is stereotypical as a lot of mischief occurs. The actors are all able and white which is stereotypical due to avaialability of disabled or black actors we also fail to represent homosexuals. Countertypically although this is a british film it doesn't show the idillic middle class view of british people.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Hammer Horror used Universal but in moder times they would be too expensive so I would use a cheap distributer such as the one Warp X use optimum releasing as the audience will be uk based.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

13-25 UK based both male and female and working class.How did you attract/address your audience?

Using a young cast to attract a young audience. Adding romance to gain female interest with horror aand fantasy apealing the male audience. The use of Britain not in the idilistic view that films such as Bridget Jones diary are in signifies the film is intended for a smal local UK based audience. We signified the prefered reading by putting the clips in order.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The purple is too purple. The sound needs inproving perhas re- recording to get it all the same level. Camera's look best on a fixed tripod rather than moving them or trying to track them. We don't have enough coffin clips this scene may need re-shooting. It needs a voicover to provide anchorage. The tripod didn't need the muffler on and the original diagetic sound was better the scream will need re-recording.

Narrative Explanation

Notional BBFC rating

If I were to rate this film I would say that it uses no swear words, no drugs, no discrimination, no nudity. But it uses mature themes of death and mistakes, horror and frightening situations, gore and violence in short takes. Sex is implied but not shown. Therefore I would rate it at 12 [BBFC]

Exhibition and Distribution and Target Audience

A cheap horror film such as donkey punch used the distributer of optimum releasing also. Hammer Horror used the distributer of J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors Universal Pictures and Warner Home Video. Twilight's main distributer was Summit Distribution though since my film has no budget I would use Optimum Releasing as in donkey punch.  

The title Mistake is polysemic so the image I use would have to be too to draw the audience in to find out the preffered reading. Twilight's image signifies love which attracts a female audience The ginger hair colour appeals to those that feel as though they are outsiders as ginger signifies this therefore signifies the narrative is emotional and relatable. The pale colours and red eyes of the man however  appeal to mainly men who are interested in gothic horror. The use of youthful characters appeals to a younger audience. A lot of films try to appeal to a younger audience because it is stereotypical for youth to be less sensible with their money. I will use youths and signify love similarly to twilight. However  I will also use the male gaze and blood in mine to appeal to a male audience. I also like the way this poster to the left has used red typography to signify the genre. Like Hot Fuzz did if I were to make this in the real world I might make a game, a website a madam tusaudes exhibit and distribute through deals with McDonalds.  The best way of drawing an audience in is through trailers If I were to make one I only show the pinnacle moments of the equilibrium disequilibrium and leave the resolution polysemic to create narrative enigma. I will have a female voice over and titles in a gothic font to signify the genre as horror/ romance. All the exposition would have to show vampires to appeal to a gothic male audience. Many cheap horror film's use television  nowadays to exhibit their product Zone Horror channel advertise a film a month with their Horror of the Month. The problem with television advertising is that the trailer would have to be re-made or put post watershed.

Alternativr Production Company Logo's

Deciding a Vampire Image

To start off experimenting with a vampire image I put just the fangs on. I found that the best facial expression was with the mouth just slightly open the more open m mouth was the more the falsness of the teeth was revealed. Also a low angle shows off more of the fangs. This image is too natural and not frightening or believable.

For the next image I I added grey, white and black makeup this made me look more undead and was scarier.

For the next image I added blood this is good because it focuses the audiences attention on the fangs and appeals to a male audience because it signifies violence.

For this next image to the right I wet my hair and spiked it up this signifies teenage well.

Slicking back my hair was like the vampires such as on Dracula but was not realistic or modern in appearance therefore not as believable I will probably use a vampire with dry hair, blood round their mouth, pale make up and red contact lenses.

Gothic Horror in Television

Because TV is lower budget than film and more contained I will look at it to get more ideas for my opening.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 Episode 1 [IMDB]

• Begins with a panning long shot of a mansion with and it is dark to signify horror
• The high pitch piano notes are also a signifier of the genre
• The colouring looks slightly black and white to signify the authentic Dracula films and a flashback
• The camera tracks roun a classroom the baroness signfifies fearfullness the desks signify a classroom and the biological mise en scene forboades the narratives of blood thirst.
• The slow violins relax the audience
• The smaishing sound is unpredictable therefore frightens the audience
• The man comes through first which is a stereotypical representation of gender as men are powerfull and brash and signifies he is the protaganist
• The woman is blonde and has a low cut top to appeal to the male gaze
• The 2 are young which is countertypical of the genre and apeals to a younger audience
• They use the false scare of the trap door opening to mislead the audience into the preffered that the girl is a victim
• The girl is counterypically a powerfull vampire
• The red sans serif gothic title signify the genre and the rock music appeals to a teenage audience. 

 Young Dracula Season 1 Episode 1 [IMDB]

• The first shot pan's from the unconventional daylight sky to an english village which is countertypical of the genre and an american audience would not understand the preffered reading of it as it is not stereotypical britain and famous landmarks
• The use of a child's voice signifes it is made for children and the harp signifes a peacfull atmosphere
• The takes are polysemic shots of a village to create narrative enigma that become closer to the setting of the characters
• The binary oposites of Dracula's gothic horror car, the rural village, the harp music and the lightening sound create humour
• From the lightening sound there is a shot of the protaganists face saying "I'm a vampire" which is counterypical because it is a normal looking child
• The sound of a choir and low piano notes begins and wee see the special effekt of a castle with a storm above it.

True Blood Season 1 Episode 1 [IMDB]

• Begins with counterypical upbeat music and the shot of traveling up road at night
• Then a counterypical shot of a woman driving with a man sleeping the shot is a two shot signifying they are in a relationship
• The female is dressed in a low cut top, flirtatios and blonde to appeal to the male gaze she expresses her teeth a lot which signifies she could be a vampire
• A sexual activity is signified by a cut away shot of the bans face and woman smiling at him
• The use of a sexual actitvity and 20-30 year old actors signifies the inteded audience is 16-40
• The signify that the universe within the camera is fantasy by the use of a sign wich says "We have tru blood" and a news inteview with a vampire.

The Vampire Diaries Season 1 Episode 1 [IMDB]

• The man is stereotypically driving
• Conventionall it is dark and a mysterios object is stood in the road
• The use of the windscreen crach signifes it's high budget
• The use of 20-30 year old actors and violence signifies its for a 16-40 year old audeice mal and low class
• The music is rock music to apeal to a younger audience
• The use of a smashed windscreen signifies the production is high budget
• The music pitch lowers and slows as the realisation intenisifies
• The blolnde female stereotpycally cries and is a victim who stays in the car and calls for help while the male goes out to have a look
• The slow music settles the audience and get's them unready for the realisation the body is a vampire and is about to jump up and bite the male
• The vampireness is signified by a close up on the biting
• The titles are red and sans serif to signify the genre

Gothic Horror in Literature

Gothic Horror began in the 18th Century as a genre of horror that combines both romance and horror. it is generally believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel

The Castle of Otranto [WIKI]

• 3 people get married but the groom is crushed by a helmet that falls from the sky
• Another lord desperatly marries the bride becasue he believes the grooms death was a signifier of his own downfall
• The bride escapes to a castle with the help of a peasant
• The lord orders the killin of the peasant
• The peasant helps the bride escape to a church and as the peasant lifts his shirt to be killed the lord realises the peasant is his son
• They are interupted in the killing by knights who beg for the bride
• The lord  rushes of to free the bride from the castle where he thinks she is
• The lords daughter frees the peasant from being locked up
• The peasant goes to the church where the bride is
• The peasant hides the bride in a cave and fights on of the knights
• He wounds the knights who is the brides father
• The lord stabs the bride thinking it is his daughter
• The peasant is then revealed to be the true Lord of the land who marries the bride

The narrative is unlike today's gothic horror because the characters are all human. However it does invovle castles, churches and a sense of class and power.

The first use of vampires was used in WAKE NOT THE DEAD by Johann Ludwig Tieck but the first famous vampire story was:

The Vampyre by John William Polidori [WIKI]

• Aubrey meets the mysterious Lord Ruthven
• Aubrey accompanies Ruthven to Rome, but leaves him after Ruthven seduces the daughter of a mutual acquaintance
• Aubrey becomes attracted to Ianthe
• Ianthe tells Aubrey about the legends of the vampire
• Ruthven arrives at the scene and shortly thereafter Ianthe is killed by a vampire
• The pair are attacked by bandits and Ruthven is mortally wounded.
• Ruthven then begins to seduce Aubrey's sister while Aubrey, helpless to protect his sister, has a nervous breakdown.
• Ruthven and Aubrey's sister are engaged to marry on the day the oath ends. Just before he dies, Aubrey writes a letter to his sister revealing Ruthven's history, but it does not arrive in time. Ruthven marries Aubrey's sister, kills her on their wedding night, and escapes

As you can see male again dominates and hierachy is shown now the dominant figure is the vampire yet it still contains elements of love.

One of the most famous Gothic Horror stories is the story of Frankenstein.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly [WIKI]

 Walton tells his sister the story of Victor Frankenstein and his creature as Frankenstein tells it to him. Walton sets out to explore the North Pole and expand his scientific knowledge in hopes of achieving fame and friendship.
Unfortunately, the ship becomes trapped in ice.
One day, the crew observes a being in the stature of a giant man in the distance on a dogsled. Frankenstein was in pursuit of his monster, when all but one of his dogs from his dogsled died.
He broke apart his dogsled to make oars to row an ice-raft toward the vessel.
Hours later they find Frankenstein, weak and in need of sustenance, near the ship.
Saved by the kind occupants of the ship, Frankenstein starts to recover from his exertion and recounts to Walton his story, warning Walton of the wretched effects of allowing one's ambition to push one to aim beyond what one is capable of achieving.

• Victor Frankenstein (a scientist) is raised by a wealthy family and has an interest in science
• He studies how life decay's and his mother dies from scarlett fever
• He makes the monster and brings it to life but frightened by its apearance he runs away
• His friend is murdered by the monster
• The monster becomes affraid of humans and lives in a cottage he becomes educated and realised his loneliness
• The monster seeks to befriend people even abducting a little boy for companytrying to silence him he kills the boy
• He demands Frankestein makes him a female companion
• Frankestein is unsure another monster could do more harm so the monster gets mad and kills somone else and Frankestein is imprisoned after prison he lives with his father
• The monster kills Frankensteins wife and with grief kills his father
• Frankenstein agress to pusue the monster untill one of them gets killed they end up in the Artic

This was one of the first Gothic Horror stories to include a character that was victim to their power. It's interesting that the narrative is often not known yet the monster is. It is because of the association of Frankenstein the Novel as including the unique significant monster that Frankenstein became known as the monster's name. With so many intertextual references of Frankenstein and Dracula the narrative becomes lost but the charaters remain.

Dracula by Bram Stoker [WIKI]

• Jonathan Harker travels to Count Dracula's crumbling, remote castle to get legal support to Dracula for a real estate transaction overseen by Harker's employer
• Harker falls under the spell of three wanton female vampires, the Brides of Dracula
• He is saved at the last second by the Count, because he wants to keep Harker alive to obtain needed legal advice
• He arrives on the shores of Whitby all of the crew are missing
• Dracula is tracking Harker's devoted fiancée, Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray, and her friend, Lucy Westenra
• Lucy begins to waste away suspiciously.
• Van Helsing immediately determines the cause of Lucy's condition
• Lucy and her mother are attacked by a wolf. Mrs Westenra, who has a heart condition, dies of fright, and Lucy apparently dies soon after.
• Van Helsing, knowing that this means Lucy has become a vampire stake her heart, behead her, and fill her mouth with garlic
• After Dracula learns of Van Helsing and the others' plot against him, he takes revenge by visiting—and biting— Mina at least three times.
• It is only possible to detect Dracula's surroundings when Mina is put under hypnosis by Van Helsing
• Dracula flees back to his castle in Transylvania
• Van Helsing's group, who manage to track him down just before sundown and destroy[3] him by shearing "through the throat" with a knife and stabbing him in the heart also with a knife. Dracula crumbles to dust, his spell is lifted and Mina is freed from the marks.

This is the most famous vampire and therefore although again not an origninal part of the plot this vampire became known as Lord of Vampires because of his fame. All these stories are written pre 20th century Twilight is a book written recently that induced the film.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer [WIKI]

• Bella who recently moved attracts a lot of competition over her from boy's
• On her first day she is sat next to Edward Cullen who is repuled by her and has to move away
• Bella is nearly run over but Edward saves her
• Bella wunders why he saved her and eventually workes out he is a vampire they fall in love
• James another vampire want's to hunt Bella for sport
• Before she is killed Edward rescues her
• Realising she is bitten Edward sucks the venom from Bella's hand Bella want's to be a vampire but Edward refuses

What made this appeal is because the story is set in a highschool and involves the sweet man vs an unpleasant man which is similar to the narrative of Rom Com's and is relational to a modern audience. Also it appeals to a female audience because the male is considerate about his dominance.

Revised Narrative

Our second narrative was to have the male vampire stalking the girl chasing her and eventually catching up with her and biteing her. The girl wakes up out of a daydream in a classroom and sees the boy she bit on the other side of the classroom  looking embarresed about his mistake of going out with her. She is ashamed by her mistake she couldn't help biteing him but she does she is a victim to her vampireness like in Twillight.

Deciding a Title

To decide a title we wanted something that would relate to our narrative and implies love and vampires.
We thought Love Bite but this was allready taken by many films and a song.
We though Blood Rage
Bitten
Eternal Love
We looked on IMDB and searched for old horror film titles that are no longer in use we saw:
Kiss of a Vampire
Mark of a Vampire
We searched on a name generator:
Fang Fright
Stake of destiny
Stake of Death
Before eventually deciding Mistake as in Mi(stake) to relate to vampires and love.

Gothic Horror Sumary

Gothic Horror Films tend to include darness a gothic sans serif font and a fantasy villain with an exegrated flaw or power. They tend to be set in the past and to have older powerfull villains such as in Dracula. However more recent examples such as Twighlight have more noramal looking appearances and a victim to their vampireness this film was also countertypically set in the day. Fog, pale faces, blood, fangs and blue light all seem to appear in expecially vampire films. However will will not include blood in ours to be more realistic. Often the horror play's on sexual and somtimes romantic desires many victims are female to appeal to the male gaze such as in The Satanic Rights of Dracula. Castle's, forrests and mansions all appear to be the settings for horror films although The Lost Boy's used a fun fair we chose a forest for ours because it is easiest to get hold of. Lightening, stroms, moonlight and fog we will have to create to stay within the conventions of our genre.

Even More Gothic Horror

The Devil Rides Out by Terence Fisher 1968 [IMDB]

• Terence Fisher is an Auteur within this genre
• The film conventionally begins with the company logo
• The music is played over polysemic shots of satanic symbols to create narrative enigma
• The preffered reading of the snakes, the goats head, the cross and the stars is satan
• The use of red smoke signifies ritual
• The titles are in sans serif font this is typical of the genre
• The film opens with a long shot of a plane signifying wealth
• Then pans down to a two shot of the binary oposites of a rich man signified by his suit and hat and his servant signified by his grey overcoat uniform.
• The use of the old fashioned car and 1920's costumes signifies the past

Decadent Evil by Charles Band 2005 [IMDB]

• This film uses medium shot of a Vampire who has long black hair a black cloak a pale face  which is stereotypical of the genre however he is young and modern also he uses a sowrd which is counterypical of the genre since vampires don't need them.
• The vampires are also in a castle this is shown by a tilted low angle shot which also signifes their power
• The voice over signifies the ptoaganist and provides exposition
• Later on in this film the piece uses female vampires which is countertypical but apeals to the male gaze

Quatermass and the Pit by Roy Ward Baker 1967 [IMDB]

• This film begins with orchestral Music and a picture of a skull on a black background to signify death
• The sans serif white typography appears to the side to sginfiy a documentary style film
• The orchestral music is typical of films of the time
• The policmens uniform signfies the past though this preffered reading would have only have been understood by an english audience who know the modern uniform
• Foreign audiences may denote that the setting is London from the use of the sign "Underground"
• Presenting britain in the past is a stereotypical view of britain
• The use of fog and darkness is stereotypical of the genre.
• The begging shots use high angle shots to signify vulnerability

Props

     To decide on our fangs we looked on the internet we want fangs that would look real and scary.So we reasearched over the internet. We will not need blood. We will need makeup which we can buy and possibly some paling makeup.

Adapted Company Animation/Logo

While this may fit my production I will need to shorten it. A lot of people preferred the first so I may use it as it was. I also may remove the soundtrack to fit the atmosphere of the beginning of the production.

Company Animation/ Logo

Revised Narrative

To get the basic idea of a person having a vision we could do either of these:
Have the protaganist having a nightmare
Have the protaganist having a day dream
Have the protaganist seeing things that aren't their

We decided to have the protaganist in a day dream and possibly use a medium still frame like in dawn of the dead and napolean dynamite but in ours she would have a loving look rather than a gormless look to signify romance and appeal to a female audience.

Why a vampire and a female would be out in the middle of nowhere at night:
We could either have them camping.
Not have it at night.
Or have it in a more commonly used area for a teenager.
Perhaps theirs other people and it's a party.

We decided to use the camping idea so we could still have it at night and still stick within the conventions of the genre to frighten our audience.

Why the vampire chases the protaganist.
He loves her.
He cannot help it he's a vampire.
He's a rapist or totally evil.

We decided to include the use of love to appeal to a female audience and we decided to show the vampire as a victim to his vampireness as in Twighlight.We decided to go with a young countertypical vampire because it is easier to create.

Podcast 3- Revised Narrative

Location Scouting

More Gothic Horror (Vampires)

Dracula Prince of Darkness by Terrance Fisher 1966 [IMDB]

• The red gothic sans serif font signifies the genre 
• The picture is surrouned by a smoking frame this signifies that we are looking into the past the smoke also signifies magic and power
• The castle what we origninally see is a strong signifier of the genre often used as this is with darkness, storms and lightening.
• The castle also signifes this film is stet in the past
• The use of an orchestra is more commonly used in pre 1990 films while more modern films have a few intruments and commonly high pitch piano notes
• The orchestra chrashendo's as the action climaxe's
• The villain is stereotypicaly dressed in black, tall, male has slick backed hair, is pale and being male uses violence to control the situation which is also stereotypical.
• Dracula is signified as the protaganist because he is the first character seen.
• The voice over provides exposition.
• Religious imagery of a cross is juxtaposed next to the violence and gore as a shock cut religion commonly used in gothic horror.
• The film uses special effects that a modern audience would not believe because they're used to seeing special effect's that are more advanced. 
• The next scene begins with a female dead which appeals to the male gaze because she is attractive and the woman crying after her is also stereotypical and represents the view of woman at the time.  

Blood Rayne II: Deliverance by Uwe Boll 2007 [IMDB]

• This film begins with a slideshow of sepia images of the wild west 
• It focuses on train pictures and farming pictures to provide exposition although this is still polysemic to create narrative enigma.
• The warm colours and realistic cheerfull pictures is countertypical to the genre.
• When we enter the main set we pan down into a village. 
• They use the binary oposites of a scruffily dressed muscly  cowboy man in a cowboy hat and thick jacket and a suited  fat man with a birefcase and a bowler hat stepping in all the pudles. 
•  They past is signified by the use of sepia pictures at the begining, the use of candle light and their costumes which are formal and invlove hats.
• The use of a setting in the past and a dark candlelite setting is stereotypical to the genre

Twilight by Catherine Hardwicke 2008 [IMDB]

• The scene begins with a voice over signifying that they are the protaganist
• The voiceover is countertypical of the genre because it is a female voice which signifies rom com.
• The use of daylight is also countertypical of the genre but signifies the title.
• The use of a forrest is stereotypical of a genre.
• The dear is an intertextual reference to Bambi.
• The take to begin with is long and pans down onto the dear to signify vulnerability.
• The takes then become shorter as it is chased to signify action.
• They use a flash cut between this and the next scene to signify memory or a cut in time.
• The camera zooms in then on the protaganist in a mysterious setting of the destert.
• The camera pans over to the husband of the protaganist's mother as it's said to signify the camera is her thoughts.

The Satanic Rights of Dracula by Alan Gibson 1973

• It uses upbeat cocktail music to appeal to the audience of the time.
• The typography is sans serif and gothic to signify the genre.
• The trumpets crashendo with the title Dracula.
• The begining shots are of famous landmarks of London to clarify the preffered reading of the setting to a large audience.
• There is an editing effect of a shadow which increases in size.
• The first shot is a long shot of a mansion with a light with a blue filter shone on it to signify horror.
• The arial shot of people in cloakes stood around a star signifieas, satanicness, religioun and the past.
• However this shot is juxtaposed next a shot of a guy in a controll room to anchore that it is the present.
• In the satanic ritual involves a female victim to appeal to the male gaze this is stereotypical of woman and signifies it is for an adult audiecee because it contains nudity.

Brotherhood of Blood by Michael Roesch 2007 [IMDB]

• Begins in a cave to signify the genre.
•  There is a female victim whic is stereotypical and apeals to the male gaze because she is blonde.
• The candle light also signifies horror.
• The use of scruffy clothing signifies the villains are outcasts.
• The use of a blowtorch signifies power.

Casting, Costumes and Makeup

Vampire Stereotype

• Fangs
• Pale
• Red eyes
• Deep voice
• Greased back hair
• 19th Century black coat
• Older
• Powerful and villainous

More Recent Representations of Vampires

• Teenage
• Fangs
• Pale
• Everyday modern clothing
• Red Eyes
• Sexual
  
• A victim to their Vampirism
• Outsider
• Atractive 

Werewolves

• 1/2 Man 1/2 Wolf
• Furry
• Growling
• Snout
• Sharp Teeth
• No Sympathy
• Large
• Angry
• Powerful

Horror Victims

• Blonde
• Atractive
• Useless
• Screaming
• Emotional

Revised Narrative

We know that were going to have the protagonist having having a gothic horror nightmare or vision. It will be either a vampire or a werewolf chasing the protagonist.  The protagonist will wake up and the audience will find out that this vision is real from a bite or a scratch.

We will make it appeal to our teenage audience by having a teenage protagonist, we will appeal to a female audience by suggesting romance with the villain by having a photograph before the chase that shows the protagonist possibly a  female holding the hand of  a male the identity of this person will be signified by a watch which wee will see the villain having to signify the villain is the person in the photograph. The outcome of the chase will have lots of polysemy to create narrative enigma. The chase will be signified as a dream by unusual lighting or echoed sound. The protagonists bedroom will depend on the gender of the protagonist it will need a mirror so that they can find the bite or scratch to signify the dream really happened. The bedroom may also signify the protagonist as a romantic perhaps the romance was lost when the villain became either a vampire or a werewolf.

Our age-group are used to high budget films with lots of special effects so to appeal to our audience we would need to signify as much gore without spending much. Also on a site such as Youtube the most viewed hits are ones of stunts, humor, animals, babies, pranks and music. We may film some animals in the forrest if we can find them it may be insects or birds or a pet cat within the house. The chase may include lots of jumping,  hiding and tripping over. We may record a  non diagetic rock band as this appeals to teenagers too. Our genre appeals to predominantly males so to appeal to females to we have included a female protagonist and romance. Our audience of our original anamatic did not connote the preferred reading of the film as seriously as we hoped therefore we have made ours not silly but not  too dark.

Audience Response

We first screened Biteing by me the audience understood the preffered reading of the narrative once I explained it. Vampire Horror has a large market recently with films like "Twilight" hence is appealed to our audience. However the narrative was not very subtle and could have been less cliched I thought about adding a modern twist such as the vampire has a virus that controlls his mind. I also thought about using a teenage vampire to apeal to my teenage audience as they responded well to this in the animatic. They found some eliments humorous hence I may make the narrative less dark and more beleivable. Another issue is that my origninal narrative is set at night, in a graveyard, in the dark and with a vampire which is both a makeup, setting and lighting challenge that may be hard to achieve.

The Vision by Jonathon Bailey was screened next the audience struggled to denote the preffered reading even once it was explained. They couldn't understand what the vision was of and how they came to meet the vision.

We thought about combining our ideas so that the Vision had a clearer narrative and Biteing had a more subtle narrative. We thought that we could include a teenage girl to appeal to our teenage audience and have her haviong dreams that she is being chased by a vampire. When she wakes she realises has been bitten because she looks in the mirror.  

Podcast 2 How our animatic relates to conventions

Assessment Criteria

G321 - Simplified Marking Criteria as 1 Sheet

General Codes and Conventions of Film Openings

A film always begins with the production company logo's sometimes this is altered to fit the genre and narrative of the movie. The opening credits begin with the principle stars the director and the producer either in typography that suits the narrative or as mise en scene. The sound often bridges over as we see a black screen first followed by the begging shot this polysemy creates narrative enigma. Exposition is provided either by typography, voice over, mise en scene or dialogue. However shots are often varied with short takes that are to create narrative enigma and draw the consumer in. We normally see the pr polysemic protagonist first and are lead into the equilibrium and hinted the disequilibrium. The transitions are normaly cross fades and slow if the genre is Rom Com for example and the music is slow. But for an action film or horror the music has a fast pace and the takes are short cuts. The openings often include an intertextual reference and iconographic genre codes so the audience can connote the preffered reading. Sometimes the narrative can be non linear and begin with the disequilibrium. Often larger budget films try to appeal to a wider audience by making a hybrid genre of film to include crossover appeal for example romance appeals to girls and action apeals to boys a film would include both. While lower budget films cannot afford to market and distribute their product to the masses.

Todorov and Propp

This film was to explore the theories of Todorov and Propp however since this was our second shoot we eventually did three for technical reasons and then took a lesson to save it and import it on the right program to edit it. We eventually only edited it within 10 minutes hence it's quit rough. We were trying to apply a story that began with an equilibrium a problem and a new equilibrium. Our beginning equilibrium was not well enough established but our problem was the hypnotist charming the girl and our new equilibrium was when the hypnotist was dead and the false hero had taken credit for saving the princess but the princess was saved things weren't quite the same. As for Propps theory we had the princess as the girl being hypnotised, the villain was me with the bracelet or magic heart, the hero was Dom who took the magic heart the magic object was the mirror the dispatcher and donor Mary gives and the magic heart the mother was lucy and the false hero was Steph who takes the magic object and claims victory to the mother. The mirror could have been made clearer maybe a close up to show it as a magic object. We showed narrative enigma by showing the dead body at the end and not resolving the situation making the audience contemplate what the preferred reading might be and enthralling them. We added dialogue and sound to anchor the signifies to navigate the audience to a preferred reading although text adds might have done this better and music. We had the binary opposites of male and female, powerful and not powerful, accompanied and lonely with the representation of youth, gender, heterosexuality and disability in the princess in ability to have free will when hypnotized.

Gothic Horror

Interview with a Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles by Neil Jordon 1995 [IMDB]

• It had a budget of $6o million
• It begins with the audio bridge of a child choir singing quite high pitch and slow to create tension
• The camera pans round a bridge then zooms into a city then pans down to a street getting closer to the setting of the film
• It is night which signifies horror
• There is a slowly tracking long shot through a street in America
• The street is modern which juxtaposes and contrasts the gothic old fashioned music
• There is a man waving his arms around who looks homeless signified by his shabby coat and clothing this is a stereotypical representation of the working classes and is similar to the mob in Van Helsing therefore using intertextual references provides anchorage as to the genre of the text and leads us into the preferred reading that the narrative has something to do with Satan.
• The mise en scene along with the choir provide exposition although there is a lot of polysemy to create narrative enigma
• The typography is sans which signifies that this is like a documentary
• As we track up to a normal building the camera pans up to a low angle shot of the building
• Like in "RocknRolla" we only see the back of the villain the vampire's head to create polysemy therefore narrative enigma
• There is the binary opposites of the modern and weak journalist and the powerful and old fashioned vampire
• The journalist is siginfied by his dakr thick glasses frames which also signify he is a geek, the scruffy shirt and braces and the typewriter
• The opening minutes conatin little shot variation which I shouldn't do.

The Phantom of the Opera by Terence Fisher 1962 [IMDB]

• There have been many versions of this narrative
• This film did badly at the box office figure not available
• It is based on a novel and isn't highly regarded because it doesn't appeal to as wider audience because there is no romance between the protagonist the Phantom and his lover Christine
• This film comes after the introduction censorship hence there is no blood, violence, cleavage and big stars like there are in other versions
• It begins with a long shot of a theatre this provides anchorage as to the setting of the text
• There is the slow tones of an organ which are low pitch a signifier of evil
• We cut to a long point of view shot within a cave this darkness is typical of Horror
• The camera pan's as we see a lot of pre-20th century elaborate Gothic furniture though the exact date is not clear this is typical of the gothic horror genre
• The victim signifed by his curled up stance is countertypical because he is male
• There is then a close up on the villains fingers on the keys he is signified as a villain by not revealing his identity and showing power in his height
• Again there is the binary opposites of powerful and mysterious and weak and vulnerable
• The villain is dressed in black while the victim is dressed in brown trousers and a white shirt in Edwardian style clothing this signifies the date and the positions of the characters
• The identity of the villain the Phantom is then signified by an extreme close up on his face
• Something is signified as not quite right by the fact he is wearing a grey mask
• The picture is now still there is music of harsh trumpet and symbol clasp to signify the preferred reading that this is frightening
• The credits come up as the images fade between each other they are a series of still images that zoom closer to his eye
• The typography is blue to signify coldness and sans font to signify this is documentary style

Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! by Jason Murphy 2008 [IMDB]

• This film was low budget and had a budget of $30,000
• The poster has the slogan "Strippers vs Zombies" and use of semi naked women on it appeals to the male gaze
• This film is rated 18 an is and has no stars in it because it's beyond their budget to hire them to be killed off
• It appeals to a male 18-34 audience
• This is more a comedy horror adding comedy to appeal to a wider audience
• It begins with a black background and the audio bridge of a high pitch sound as we see green typography
• We countertypically have a black protagonist as we see a two shot of him and a girl coming through a door this signifies they have some kind of relationship
• The female is dressed in a skimpy cheerleaders outfit with ice skates to appeal to the male gaze while the male is holding a bag and dressed in a tracksuit this signifies they have been doing some exercise
• There is a point of view shot as the protagonists see the Zombies approaching
• The female stereotypically cradles the male in fear while he goes off to fight them
• As he fights them the takes become shorter to signify action
• When the male dies the female counterypically then fights the zombies as wee see the special effects of on of their eyes bleeding
• The audience are mislead as to the identity of the protagonist as we cut out to a television screen of the same film and hear a girl screaming and cut over to the girl using a high angle shot to show her fear.
• The use of her green and red glasses signifies that she is seeing the film in 3D her age of 3 signifies that her parent's don't look after her that well
• There is a blue light shining in the room we see as wee see the father rushing in this is stereotypical of horror
• There is a close up of his face to show his shocked reaction.
• The titles then appear in red to signify blood and gore.

Dracula by John Badham 1979 [IMDB]

• Begins with the sound of a howling wolf and a black screen to create narrative enigma. 
• There is the typography of gothic sans font in metallic grey to provide expostion as we hear a harsh shreak of violins to signify something is unsettled.
• There is a polysemic blue cloud behind the grey mettalic titles on the black screen. It increases and looks like a tunnel the blue signifies horror. 
• We hear the sound of trumpets as we see the silouette of a bat to signify the bat's dominance.
• The tunnel opens up to an establishing long shot of a a sea with a castle in the middle, it is dusk and the sea is still.
• The camera tracks up to the castle and pan's up to a low angle shot of it to signify it is dominant , it then flies over the castle. This along with the discouncerning music signifies evil is lurking.
• We then cross fade to a  long shot of stormy sea at night with a wooden ship in it. 
• The lighting and rain a signifier of dissetlement. The darkness a signifier of evil. The woodenship signifies the past.
• There is a few polysemic close up's of the ship to provide expsition.
• The protaganist is not revealed yet signifying he is powerfull.
• There is the sound of howlilng of a wolf which signifies anger the mise en scene of the words dracular on the crate are shown the same time lightening strikes to signify evil it also provides exposition.
• The sea men are stereotypically, poor, male and foreign.
• There is a point of view shot from Dracula's point of view as his hand breaks out of the crate and strangle the seamen.
• The blood commonly used in horror to signify death.
• The next shot is an establishing shot of  large mansion with a grave in the corner also a common signifier of horror.