BW: Evaluation question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The first step in answering this question is to identify what social groups appear in our group's opening sequence. The only social group that is featured in our opening sequence are white, middle-class, 17 year old boys.


Our film opening constructs neither a positive nor a negative representation of the social group that appears in our film opening. This is because our characters are not really seen doing anything that would warrant them being seen in a positive light or a negative light. Although seeing as they're not causing any damage or harming anyone, if i had to I would say that they are being portrayed positively. I wouldn't say that there is any particular gender role, male or female, that is featured within our film opening but our characters are seen to be conforming to social norms in terms of their fashion. In our opening the characters are wearing the sort of mainstream clothes you would expect from teenagers.


Our film opening could be interpreted as to represent teenage boys as very confident because the non-verbal language of our characters is overtly casual and over confident when walking towards the church, which could possibly be interpreted as arrogance. The confidence is again shown when Michael says "I knew there was another way in" without any hesitation.


A common ideology among British youths these days - one that has been constructed by its portrayal in films and TV shows - is gang culture. Gang culture places a lot of emphasis on being 'hard' and is common in the inner cities. But it has spread out throughout the country into British towns and so you have youths in places like Tonbridge imitating gang culture and acting 'hard'. The very casual way in which our characters walk in our opening sequence shows them imitating gang culture by acting 'hard', with their body language displaying an attitude that nothing around can really harm them. The actions of our characters here simply reinforce the ideological discourse among British youths that gang culture is cool.

BW: Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In my opinion our group's film opening conforms and uses many of the conventions of a horror film and doesn’t really challenge those conventions in any proper way. One of the main conventions used concerns the location and the plot of our group’s opening. A lot of horror films are set in old buildings that usually have a dark past, and it is also iconic for horror films to feature something supernatural going on. What better place to exhibit the supernatural than at a place of religious worship - religion, of course, being strongly associated with the ‘spiritual world’). The plot of our horror opening again draws upon the supernatural theme as amongst the props is an enchanted, or possessed, object which turns out to be the catalyst for events. This object is a gargoyle pendant which helped the supernatural theme because gargoyles have historically been associated with spirits. 


The enchanted object

The mise-en-scene of our horror opening is also very conventional. For example the lighting outside the church is dark and dull, and the only source of light inside the church comes from candles. The candlelight makes our opening very atmospheric and also makes it rather gloomy. Horror films often work upon the fear that some people have which is the fear of the dark. People can get scared of the dark simply because they don’t know what’s ahead of them which makes them uncomfortable. Our opening offers low levels of light from the candles because we were hoping to create this sense of uncertainty as the audience doesn’t know what’s around the characters. The topic of people feeling scared because they can’t see what’s ahead of them brings me onto our title. The title of our opening is ‘The Unseen’ which, much more blatantly, suggests that our characters are unaware of what’s ahead of them and that there’s some hidden force working inside the building. This all explains how our opening uses more conventions of a horror film. 

"The Unseen"

Our characters’ costume was simply normal, everyday clothes. This displayed them as regular people, which again builds upon another convention that is, that horror films portray their characters as regular people in order to make the situation seem more real and possibly to show how everybody is vulnerable in some way or another. So our opening can be compared to the Amityville Horror (Douglas, 2006) where the audience sees how the antagonist, Ronnie, was a regular person as the film shows the audience pictures of him graduating for example. Then for the audience to see him as possessed really brings home the idea that everybody is vulnerable – shown in our opening when one of the characters becomes unconscious by holding the pendant.


Yet again another convention of horror films is used and this time it was for the soundtrack. Horror films commonly feature a constant sound that gradually builds up, creating tension, until the shocking thing happens that sets the course for the rest of the film. The same sort of thing happens in our opening as the soundtrack features a constant low bass drone, then whispers come in that continue building up the tension until the character falls victim to this dark object, at which point the whispers and the drone abruptly halts.

A final comparison to be made could be between our opening and the opening of Suspiria (Argento, 1977).  In the opening of Suspiria a flash of lightning reveals the shadow of a mysterious figure which creates enigma. Enigma is created in our opening as the camera slowly zooms in on the enchanted gargoyle pendant until it becomes blurry. The audience begins to wonder what is up with this object.


Overall it is difficult to think of ways in which our opening challenges conventions of the horror genre but I will say this: the non-verbal language of our characters is simply very casual as they stroll up to the church whereas in other horror films they would naturally be uneasy and on-edge. Another means by which our opening challenges conventions of horror films is that in a lot horror films, they will try to anchor the audience towards a young child as they are the most vulnerable and innocent of all (again using ‘The Amityville Horror’ as an example). They do this to create emotive feelings amongst the audience; however, in our opening no such attempt is made. 

Group: Final cut questionnaire

This is a copy of the questionnaire we created for audience feedback for the drama studio screening. 

Group 12 Questionnaire

Do you think any of these would have been a better location? (Please tick one)

Castle          (   )                        Woods                           (   )
Old house    (   )                        Abandoned building        (   )
School         (   )                        None of these                 (   )

Did you think the font was appropriate for the genre? (Please circle)

Yes / No

Did you think the sound track was effective in creating mood? (Please circle, 1 is low and 10 is high)

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10

Was the lighting useful to set the scene? (Please circle)

Yes / No

On a scale of 1-10 how effective was this film opening at conveying the common features of a horror/thriller film? (Please circle, 1 is low and 10 is high)

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10

Do you think the victim was a good choice of character? (Please explain why)

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

What did you think of the location we used? (Please expand)

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

How believable was the storyline? (Please leave feedback)

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

What did you think could be improved? (Please leave feedback)

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

What is the strongest aspect of this production? (Please leave feedback

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Group: Final Cut

On March the 23rd we made out final cut. We fitted the finished soundtrack to our piece and we edited the music to fit the video and vice-versa.

Here is a screenshot of our work on Premeire. In this screen shot Ben was adapting the shot by adding names and titles to each gravestone as the dolly passes them on the track and the boys walk past.

MS: Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our horror opening uses two males, lower-middle class as can be seen by the clothing and accent of the protagonists, with a curiosity over the abandoned church.

Scruffy Jeans, and tracksuit bottoms make the protagonists appear more innocent and  childlike.

We represented teenagers as being independent but somewhat unreliable, hence why one of the characters dies early on due to walking away from his friend. It reflects a residual ideology of teen horror films, and is typical of a horror/thriller film to make these assumptions of teenagers as being a bit careless, or thoughtless, with the ambition to do their own thing.

They are stereotyped by wearing tracksuit bottoms and low hung jeans, with sports trainers and slightly lazy walks. The costume defines the characters ages, and the location adds to the interpretation of the characters independence due to the fact that they are in an isolated church, walking up a hill with no-one around.

The 180° rule was used to show the left side of the characters face all the way up until the death scene. 

Left side of both characters is shown. In a 2-shot

 When the main characters are shown walking towards the camera, the walk off to their right. Showing the left side of their faces, keeping to the 180° rule.

Left side is shown once again. It also follows the rule of thirds, staying to the right hand side of the screen.

After the death scene Josh is seen walking towards Me (Michael) showing the right side of his face, showing that something has happened that has changed his perspective and emotions; realizing that something is wrong.

After the death scene, the right side is shown of Josh's face.

They are seen as being typical teenagers, when it comes to dialogue as they don’t talk much, and when they do it is only to point out the obvious, hence when I (Michael) say “I thought I knew another way in…” when it is obvious to the audience that there was another way in anyway. We deliberately used little dialogue to express this and dumb down the characters more so to relate to a typical horror opening death, which is usually inflicted on the least intelligent of the couple/group.

MS: Question 1 - In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Q1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The final cut of our Thriller film opening has been as successful as we expected it to be. All elements of acting, camera techniques and mise-en-scène have been met to a standard that we are happy with. We reshaped our plot line as we filmed due to circumstances such as: timings of the day & limitations to the use of locations; however much of the initial idea has stuck.


We filmed in 2 locations, both of which were churches, as it was our most popular choice in our questionnaire, and it also fitted our storyboard well. The outdoor scenes were filmed at Bidborough church, the indoor scenes were shot a few days later at St Mary's church, in Salehurst. We wanted to use 2 locations due to the lack of a horror feel outside Salehurst church, as it is next to a pub and close to houses, whereas Bidborough church has a large graveyard and is on a hillside.

Our Location at Bidborough church.

In our opening we began with our two protagonists walking up a hill to a church. Immediately enigma establishes itself as we do not know why they are going to this church or where. The boys are portrayed as having the residual ideology in that they didn’t talk to each other much, except from when they need to, or if something important is needed to be said. It is also a stereotype to have young teenagers in a horror film, as they can be portrayed as being innocent. The fact that the boys are heading into a dark church and everything is lit by the candles they hold is also typical of a horror/thriller film. Similar themes are addressed at the beginning of certain films such as The Hills Have Eyes (Aja, 2006) where the first character, to be killed, is alone. Our opening does follow a typical thriller theme, however our location is unique and therefore it differentiates itself from its competitors.

An initial idea we had was to bring the idea of a stalker, or killer, into the film. Similar to the opening of It. 

The titles we used were also very interesting as we twinned the actor’s names on the tombstones with the soundtrack emphasising the name with obscure drum sounds. This works well with the following pan on our protagonists, combined with the natural dim daylight and the dark clothing worn by the characters.

Our cast members and crew were "engraved" on the gravestones using "Adobe Premiere Elements 9.0".

The lighting helped to boost the fear factor in our opening, as most of the opening is shot using candle lights and dim lighting from outside of the church. It came across as a major challenge and payed off well, a note we have all taken for future benefits is to film earlier in the day and change the darkness via "Adobe Premier Elements 9.0" or by any other software, this would allow a slightly clearer image than ours. Nevertheless, we are happy with the way our church scenes turned out.

This is the lighting technique we were aiming for, similar to that of The Grudge. Note how it is almost black and white, but it has a strong blue tint

Our favourite shot, using the natural lighting for the stain glass windows, combined with the candle lights.

Our amulet of a demons face on a necklace was our main prop, as it looks demonic and expresses an enigmatic horror presence to the film opening. We innovated our ideas substantially over the course of filming, as our original ideas included a crucifix, a floating/hovering artefact and a hooded figure spying in the background. 

This was our original idea of a sculpture for our horror, similar to this Pazuzu sculpture from The Exorcist; we decided not to get it , and instead got an amulet necklace. That way we could hide it inside a book.

We wanted our demon necklace to look similar to this scene in the Excorcist. We couldn't, however, get a statue similar to the Pazuzu one above. This link directs you to a video from the Exorcist. It includes a few features that we added to our opening.  

The idea of using a Demon medalion/necklace came from this scene from the Exocist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD0RJ_iuBPo

Our demon necklace, that mysteriously kills one of our protagonists.

Overall I do believe our film expresses that of a typical teen horror/thriller film, as it challenges the teen stereotypes of "lack of communication" and "incapability to be alone" however our creative, and original idea creates an eerie essence of disturbance that differs from most other predictable horror openings. It drags the audience into the film, without entirely giving the plot away as to what is going to happen to our other protagonist, Josh.

MS: Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of making your film opening?

In the process of developing and filming the thriller film opening, I learnt how to use the Google “blogger” website. On this blog you can write and upload documents and notes of recent tasks and assignments. On the Blogger system you can upload photos and videos directly from internet sites such as Google images, and Youtube.

The Blog. We made independent, and group posts.

The technology on the schools computers that we used is called “Adobe Elements Première 9.0” it is professional editing software and was ideal for editing and producing our product. The software provided many effects such as using a “Tinting”, “Adjusting Contrast and Brightness”, “Sharpening the Image” and many more!

We attempted to stay to stick to the rule of thirds and keep the protagonists in their own third, whilst framing the characters properly. We achieved this by filming from different angles, most of which were from the tripod; however some were from the dolly & track. When we filmed the characters walking the first time, we decided that standing next to each other was ideal, however it made it harder to keep “lead and head room” so on all of the angles from the side of the protagonists, one is always a step or two ahead.

An example of a high angle, to make sure our characters were in shot.

The dark night worked to our advantage, strongly coinciding with our natural blurry, and our of focus scenes inside the church, with the natural candle light. The camcorder naturally blurred at a certain darkness, which we happened to intercept during the time of filming, nevertheless we used it to our advantage. Our white balance had minimal adjustments, which saved time and saved the over complications of editing on “Première”.

We had a shallow depth of field for the majority of our filming, up until the church scene where we used candles. The natural glow of the candles had a sinister glowing effect when we zoomed in and out, we preferred to zoom out for these scenes and let the depth of field increase, as it added to the enigma, and mystery, of the scene.

Natural Deep Focus, making a blur when close up.

It also allows one to add a soundtrack and increase the pace of the film and it also helped us by allowing the process of cropping and cutting unwanted scenes. It was a difficult process to learn, and was stressful after the soundtrack had been made, due to the long process of adapting the music to the film. 

We liked the idea of a slow start, so our pace of editing begins quite slowly and increases over the course of the opening up until the death. Using fast fades between numerous scene we gently segued between them, it made it look more professional and similar to most thriller films that we had watch such as "Scream".

We included a montage to show all of the weird objects and sculptures inside the church in a montage style to allow the audience to know what is there without have to see the full church. This is  quite prolific in such famous openings as "Se7en" and "Saw".

Finally after all the editing was complete we exported it to our D-Drive in a folder related to our horror opening. In order to export we changed the export quality to 1080p, and changed the frames per second to 25. Once the export was complete we uploaded it to YouTube, it helped our audience see our opening.

In comparison to a real film production, ours lack the funding and equipment as well as the time, preparation and actors on hand, the software was fun, and quite easy to use, however I can imagine a real film production may use CGI and other Adobe softwares that we do not possess. I believe that ours differs from a real film production because of the idea and atmosphere of amateur filming, skeleton cast, time and commitment involved.