AS Evaluation essay

AS Media Evaluation-

Research and planning

My AS coursework included a lot of research and planning. We spent quite a bit of time looking at what genre of film we would choose and what making a film opening actually involved. Once we knew our genre, which was horror, we started looking at other factors we needed to consider like location, props, actors, costume etc.

 Location was a very important part of making our film opening, especially when thinking about our budget and time, which is why we spent so long making sure we made the right decision. We looked at a few different possible locations which would be good for our genre. Eventually we chose an old abandoned hospital for mental patients; we chose this because we knew it would work well with our horror genre. We had to get permission to go in there from the security guard who was in charge of the building, in a way this wasted time and meant we had less time to get footage. We also faced a big problem when we went back to film the second part and the building was being checked for asbestos. Because of this, we ended up filming in a different building. 

Our research and planning went fairly well except for a few problems. If we were to do it again we would definitely choose a more stable location that we would not need permission for, although taking the risk of filming at Warley asylum did work out ok. Luckily it had good lighting and added a spooky feel to our film opening. We also should have spent more time working on a storyboard. We had a very basic storyboard which we did not stick too when filming. Having a clear storyboard would’ve given us an understanding on the exact shots we had to get and would’ve made things a lot easier. It would have also made our filming quicker and more fluent, I think that we spent too much time on filming and not enough on other aspects such as recording what we had done and evaluating.

Following the conventions of real media text

                First of all we had to research the conventions of the horror genre. We looked a trailers and openings for recent horror films that had been released. This gave us a good understanding on what the common conventions of a horror film that we needed to include like mise en scene, editing, sound etc.

                A feature that we found very common in horror films was Foley sounds; they are used as an effect to add tension. Although we found these very common, we did not use many of them in our film opening, which means we could’ve possibly got more marks by using them effectively. A soundtrack was also a key feature which is used to build suspension in horror films. We picked a slow song which got louder throughout the clip, therefore building suspension and helping us to easily reveal our film as a horror to the audience.

                Part of editing our film included making a production logo. We had to make it specific so it linked with our genre, which is why we made ‘hanging hill productions’. It had a spooky looking image and the word ‘hanging’ which immediately gives the audience an understanding of the genre. Overall I think our AS work was edited well and followed most conventions of a horror film. To improve for my A2 work I think we should take a little bit more time editing than filming, because a lot of marks can be gained when editing is done well.

              When it came to looking at mise en scene, lighting clearly stood out as a key aspect for a horror film. If we filmed in a light room or even outside in the sun it would be a lot harder to portray our film opening as a horror and to build tension and fear. As we filmed in an old hospital, some of the lights did not work, and we were able to turn the others off, this enabled us to add a spooky feel to our film opening. As soon as the abnormal part of our opening was over, we went back to normal lighting to show that our other part was an old clip from the past and this part was up to date.

               Overall I think that we understood the conventions of the horror genre fairly well, however I think in the future, we need to make sure that we present the genre more to the audience through our editing and filming techniques, using more mise en scene.

Creativity and originality

                Although we followed the conventions of a horror film fairly well, we did put our own touch into our work and tried to make it as original as we could. One of the things that helped us do this is by filming at the hospital. We did this because it was different, most people in our class who were also making a horror filmed it in their own houses, which has its advantages, but doesn’t give as much of a horror impression as an abandoned hospital.

                We also used a black and white effect during the majority of our film opening which made our film seem like it was shot in the past. This also added enigma to our film opening, making the audience wonder why it was in black and white. Our film opening also included speech, which gave the audience more of an insight to our characters and their personalities.

                To make our opening more creative, we could’ve picked a different location to film the last part in, instead of using the school. We did this because we ran out time. If we had planned ahead more clearly, we could’ve filmed the last minute in a more original location.

                Overall, I believe our film opening went well, although we lacked planning in most areas. In our A2 work we will need to make sure we plan ahead so we know exactly what to do and how long it will take when we come to film and edit.