Evaluation- Activity eight

What went well in our production

For the forthcoming year, there are many elements I would like to keep the same, to improve individually and when we work together in a team.

Firstly, I believe that our opening two minutes for this year was produced at our highest abilities, especially as this was our first year producing an opening two minutes! This year has been a learning curve for me and my group as our production made us think of what shots would be ideal here and the techniques and special effects which would our production effective. We've learnt many things such as the use of match on action which we used many times throughout our film as it ensured high continuity, high effectiveness and made our film appear very professional. Match on action technique tested our editing skills, camerawork skills and our lighting skills, as the lighting had to be similar in all shots when using this technique. What also went well was the use of mise en scene of the clothing as they reinforced what we wanted to portray our characters as; for example, the use of the white top reflects purity and innocence of the protagonist, making the audience feel sympathetic for her. In comparison, the use of the stitched smile mask the antagonist is wearing makes the audience petrified and scares anyone due to the use of mise en scene. Also the selection of location allows the audience to associate and engage with the film even more as they can relate to the everyday places we used, making them feel even more uneasy when watching it. Finally, our editing was precise and accurate so that our film was very fluent and ensured high continuity, which made our opening two minutes very effective. 

What would I have done differently/ improve and why?

Although our film had very positive feedback from our target audience there are a few things we would want to do differently to make our film even more effective and better. Firstly, having used an underwater camera to create a rippling effect on the low angled shot was very effective; however we could have made this short even more frightful. Due to the diegetic music of the rippling water it created an unnerving quietness, which is where we could have added something which would scare the audience even more. As the protagonist is looking down the antagonist could slowly peer over her left shoulder, making the audience feel fear and scared,but also sorrow for the girl. Applying this would then explain why the girl turns round and closes the door as she may have felt an ice-cold breath breathing on her. However, this is just an idea which we could have add to our film, to rise the tension and the fearful atmosphere. Due to the time limits we were given, made us think of how we would ensure the maximum effectiveness of creating enigmas, fear and continuity in this short duration. If we had more time we would have removed the black fade out transition linking the woods and the house location together. This is so the audience would understand how she gained the deep bloody gash on her hand. Finally, what we would improve is the slightly non-synced piano piece which was the only piece of negative feedback we gained from our target audience, which reflects the success of our opening two minutes.

What are we going to aim to do in your next production to improve our film-making?

Within in our next production we are going to aim to use more filming techniques such as dolly shots, master shots and many more examples. We would also try to use many different shots, as next year we are doing a trailer, which would allow us to use different camera shots, which we would try to make them as effective and as professional as we can. May targets for next year would be to do keep blogging regularly, use many effective camera shots and editing however still keeping the continuity of our production, and finally to gain precise and accurate editing. 

Overall, this year I have enjoyed media contently as I have learnt many things which has developed my knowledge and understanding of media, which can see through my blogs and our final production 'The Woods'.

Evaluation- Activity seven

Preliminary task VS Final opening two minutes
At the beginning of the year, we produced our preliminary task, which it aimed us to understand the effects of different camera shots and being able to use a camera properly. This seems so long ago when we did this task and now comparing it to our final production, 'The Woods', shows the amount of development and improvement we have gained. If I compare myself from the beginning of the year to now, I have learnt vast amounts of knowledge, from the effects of camerawork, to being able to achieve high standards of editing to ensure continuity within our film. Within our preliminary task, we had to ensure we obeyed the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot and match on action, which all aided us in producing our final production as it gave us even more knowledge on which shots and camera rules would be effective for our film.

Establishing shot - Preliminary task VS Final Production

As we have learnt, the establishing shot is a very important shot as it sets the whole scene of the film; giving an insight to the location, character and usually the atmosphere, which is reinforced by the music used. As you can see from the pictures, the top one is from our preliminary task and the bottom one is from our final production. You can automatically see a difference between these shots, from the slightly different shots to the use of different lighting used within both shots. Firstly, the use of the over the shoulder shot in the preliminary task, makes the audience engage with the film as they feel as though they are following the lady in front of them. However, compared to our final production of our opening two minutes, you can see that we have learnt that using a medium shot rather than an over the shoulder shot first, enables the audience to have a chance to see more of the location of where the film is set. It also gives them a chance to see and analyse the character walking away from the camera and also doesn't force the audience to be pressured into watching the film; instead the shot catches and draws the audiences' attention. The lighting we used in the preliminary task creates an dull, upset atmosphere due to the lighting being relatively dim and very little additional light. In comparison, the lighting within the opening two minutes, produces a bright but eerie atmosphere, which conforms to the conventions of a horror film. Both use of lighting creates different effects, however, the final production has music to reinforce the eeriness of the woods, which makes the shot more effective than the preliminary. The mise en scene of the clothing reflect the mortif, as they are both reasonable dull colours, which the preliminary task dull clothing implies the dullness and the upset atmosphere, whereas the slightly lighter but still a little dull coloured jacket reflects the eeriness of the woods, which reinforces the title of the film. The use of the over the shoulder shot of the girl walking towards the chair in our preliminary task, makes the audience automatically focus on her as the focus pull is obviously her rather than anything else, as she is in the foreground of the shot. In comparison, there is no distictive focus pull within the establishing shot of our opening two minutes, due to the unfocused effect which we made the camera do, as it creates a further eerie unnerving atmosphere. Although there is no clear focus pull, it allows the audience to gain an insight in the location, character and atmosphere, whihc engages the auidence straight from the beginning of the film. However, through this comparison from the preliminary task, which we produced at the beginning of the school year, shows how much we have developed our knowledge of what shot would be most effective, the type of lighting needed to portray this certain effects/mortif/atmosphere etc. This comparison reflects that I have learnt many things such as, lighting can reflect the mood of the film, how the use of mise en scene can determine the characters feeling and portrayal of them and also the effects of what camera shots can achieve.

Editing technique- Match on action

Match on action is an action which commences in shot A and is completed within shot B or C, for example; so basically where two or three shots show an action being completed across the two or three shots, which increases continuity of a film. We had to use this filming technique within our preliminary task as it allowed us to get to grips with stabilizing the shots, shooting the right shots to make sure they flow into each other when we edit them and also practising editing skills, to ensure continuity. As you can see from the picture we used match on action on the girl pulling out the chair, which was fairly fluent, however could have been improved. Using this type of filming techniques, it is important to keep; the camera stable as it would not disturb the atmosphere and continuity of the shot, make sure during the editing process that the shots flow in with each other (continuity), also make sure the camera shots used would allow maximum fluency. As we grew more confident in using this technique, we used it many time within our opening two minutes, to show our abilities of using different camera techniques, but most importantly to ensure high continuity within our film. Within our match on action shots we realised it was important to ensure that the lighting was constantly or gradually change, so that when the shots were edited together during the editing process the shots would not look like a different time frame, which would disrupt the atmosphere we wanted to create. In preliminary task there was a slight change, which if we used within our final production, it may have interupted the cinematic exeperience for our audience. We decided to work on this so we could make our film as professional as we could; which is we decided to have the girl entering the bathroom from dark to light lighting as this was less likely to make the lighting jumpy and less fluent.

Editing technique- Shot reverse shot
Shot reverse shot is a film technique where an individual  character is shown looking at another character, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. This shows the audience both characters, which gives a insight of what they are like, but also it shows the relationship between the character; within this case they are quite distant from each other due to the body language and the distance between the characters. We also used this shot to experiment the shot reverse shot effectiveness, as we needed to see if this would be suitable for our final production. The use of the over the shoulder shot allows the audience to gain an insight of the appearance of the characters and makes the audience feel as if they are part of the film. For this editing technique, we had to ensure, during the editing process, that we cut the individual shots precisely, so that the reverse shot would be fluent, to restore continuity in our preliminary task. However, as you can see, there is no pictures from our final film of this technique being used within any of our opening two minutes. This is because this editing technique does not conform with the convention of a horror film, especially not ours as there is only one main character present within our production, until the antagonist is seen in the final shot. This technique subverts to the conventions of a horror as usually opening two minutes set the horrific and terrifying atmosphere, in which would be continued throughout the film; meaning if this editing technique was used there would have to be a conversation involved, which would create a minimal eerie and scary atmosphere. This shows that we have learnt that using different  and various editing techniques can have different amounts of effectiveness, meaning that we have to use suitable editing techniques, to ensure we portray our films in the correct ways.

Camerawork- Close up shots

We used many different camera shots within our opening two minutes to portray various emotions from the protagonist. In comparison, within our preliminary task, we did not use many types of camera shots, which doesn't make the task that effective. Due to the lack of camerawork in the preliminary task, the only shot we could compare is the use of close up shots. We use quite a few close up shots in the preliminary task, which allowed us to achieve editing techniques such as, match on action, which was used to ensure continuity. The close ups in the preliminary task also allowed the audience to see the characters reactions, which would create enigmas as the audience wouldn't know why she put her hand to her head. This makes the audience feel sympathetic to the girl. This shot also highlights significance as it only captures one element within the shot, which suggests that is important to remember. We also ranged the height of where the camera was, either high or low angled. We used a low angled close up of the girls feet in the preliminary task, which was effective as it created a little suspense as we didn't know who feet they belonged too. As you can see we decided to use a shot like this within our final production as we believed it was very effective, and allowed us to show our filming skills and techniques. We used many close up shots within our final production as this follows the conventions of a horror film as these shots create suspense and tension, which horrors use to build up to the scary events present in this genre of film. As you can see our close up shots have developed since we did our preliminary task, as we were able to achieve sharp and clear shots, but also we learnt that the lighting and sounds within the shots would effect the effectiveness we wanted to portray. The use of lighting suggests what the atmosphere is like, for example, having light and bright light would imply happiness and summery weather, however in our case, we used natural and unfiltered light, which created an eerie and unnerving atmosphere, which conforms to horror films. The use of sounds aids the use of close up shots as the use of diegetic or non diegetic music, reinforces the tension and suspense, which we wanted to create throughout the film and through these close up shots.
Overall, our preliminary task was the starting point in learning how to use a camera and how different editing techniques, camera shots, lighting and even sound can effect the message we want to portray. This helped us learn the knowledge we needed to produce our final production of 'The Woods'.

Evaluation - Activity six

Equipment, technology and software within our production 

We took this picture as it showed what equipment we had used throughout our production. The small camera, which is on the left is a Kodak 900, which enabled us to take the low angled underwater shot. This was a new and unique special effect that we used within our film as this would have engaged the audience, as they would be amazed with how we filmed the shot. We gained this type of feedback from our target audience, which they said was one of the best shots within our production as it created suspense with the use of diegetic sound of the rippling movement of the water and how the clean water slowly changed into a light red shade, due to the blood on the protagonists hand.

We also used the Canon 9000, which was the most vital piece of equipment as this is the camera we used to film the whole production, excluding the shot using the Kodak hardware. This camera allowed us to achieve a blurred unfocused shot, as all you needed to do was adjust the lens by turning it either left or right, which you can see we used for the establishing shot. It also meant that we were able to adjust the lens for the various shots we had in our production. Therefore, it shows our techniques with using the camera and allowed us to creates very effective shots, which would engage our audience even more, as the camera would capture the right lighting we wanted to portray and capture every aspect we wanted to be seen in the shot. This would the audience feel as though they are watching something professional due to the high standards we hopefully have achieved. 

We also used an iPhone, which although we didn't use it for aiding us to produce our film, we did use it to record video diaries, which showed the behind the scenes of the film, which is a good marketing campaign. This is a good marketing campaign as it allows the audience to see what we were doing behind the scenes, the amount of thought which had to go into the clothing and make up, an also gave a little insight of who the actors were like. It also gives the audience an insight of what the film would consist of, without spoiling any of the film; which would keep the audience wanting to watch the film. These video diaries also created some enigmas as it didn't show what the antagonist final costume was, which the audience would definitely want to know, as then they know who to look out for within the film; however, this would have intrigued the audience even more as they would want to find answers to all the enigmas, which were created through the use of these video diaries.
Technology and software
We used various technology and software within our production so we could achieve many effects. We used software such as YouTube, for uploading our video diaries, evaluation tasks, and storyboards. This allowed our target audience to see sneak peaks and teasers of our film, which would provide insights into our film, which would the audience hungry for more. We also learnt that using YouTube software allowed our audience to comment on the videos, so we would be able to see their reactions and hopefully respond to their improvements. This software also has technology which allows our videos to be shared, which would make our film engage a much wide range of people, increasing the popularity of the film; which is a good marketing campaign as it create an echo chamber effect.
We also used 'Blogger', which allowed us to write blogs about our production, which shows how we came to our final productions. These blogs shows the building blocks, from the storyboards to actually beginning to film our final production, which would engage our audience as they can see the development of the film. It also allowed us to evaluate what we have done, during this whole filming process.
The fonts we used for the opening titles and the final titles were created and adapted on 'Paint' and 'Photoshop'. These types of software allowed us to adapt the font by changing colours, shapes and textures of the font, which could duplicate or undo mistakes easily. This allowed us to create spooky white font, which conforms to a stereotypical horror film. We learnt that we could begin by using 'Paint' first as there were minimal effects and techniques which you could use for fonts, which is where we then imported the fonts from 'Paint' into 'Photoshop'. We then used this software to change the textures and add effects to the titles, due to the more advanced technology on 'Photoshop', such as the blur tool or burn tool.
The final piece of software we used was 'Adobe Premiere Elements', which allowed us to edit, adapt and put together our film. This software had a range of technology, which was very effective use. Technology such as, stabilizing effects, which we didn't use as our shots were stable, various transitions to suit a range of films and many more. This was one of our vital pieces of software as it was where we put together the whole film. This software was very advanced compared to software such as 'Movie Maker' , as there was much more of a range of technology in it, which allowed us to achieve accurate editing and allowing us to change the brightness of thew shots, if they were too dark or bright.

Evaluation- Activity five

Annotations of 'The Woods'
We decided to evaluate how the various use of camera shots, sounds, editing, use of mise en scene and many more elements, compare to films which have been released into cinemas and have made millions from their success.

Evaluation- Activity three

Running commentary of 'The Woods'

This is our running commentary of our final production of 'The Woods', which involves us talking about the film institution, where and who we were funded by and the different techniques of editing and camerawork. Enjoy!

Evaluation- Activity one

Institution

This is the institution, which is located at the beginning of our opening two minutes. The placement of this was at the beginning because it enabled the audience to automatically know who helped produce the film and in our previous research into directing and producing the film we discovered, generally, these were displayed at the start of the film, so conforms the conventions of horror film. However if we placed our 'MJC Productions' institution further on, we thought it would interrupt the atmosphere of the film, which we are trying to convey, meaning they would not engage with the film as much as we would like, as we believed it was critical that they feel part of the film and are able to relate to it. We used this font for the institution because they are bold and contrasts from the background image on the screen. The fonts are both the same font type and size, so the audience can associate the two institutions as being the same company. As we designed these institutions, it meant we could choose the fonts used, music, transition of font, arrangement of font and the background image. We decided to have natural background such as the sky and the top of the mountain as we believed it portrays us discovering our ideas and uncovering them to produce our final opening minutes. The mountain institution was placed after the other one as the eerie music of the brusque air creates tension to introduce the establishing shot of our film. The transition of the writing in these institution enables the continuity of the two, making these fluent and fairly professional looking. Although the use of 'Arial Black' font allows the writing to stand out, the use of colour of the font in  the first institution, does not contrast from the background that easily, meaning to some of the audience it would be hard to read. This is a factor film distributors and producers considers as important as they would desire the title sequences to be clear legible and distinct.

Establishing shot

This is the establishing shot of our opening two minutes, which follows our distinctive institutions which we designed ourselves. This establishing shot is very effective as having the focus of the camera blurred, as the girl walks away, creates an eerie atmosphere, which is follows the conventions of a horror film and introduces the film effectively. This blurred effect does not generate a distinctive focus pull, however,  the movement of our actor, reinforces that she is the focus of the shot. However due to not having a clear focus pull it allows the audience to not only focus on the actor but also the environment surrounding the actor. Having the medium shot behind the girl, enables the perfect introduction to her character as she is the only on in the shot although there is an absence of her face it makes the audience wonder what is so significant about this character. This shot also creates an image of someone stalking her or watching her every move, which is how we wanted to portray it. The lighting of this shot enables the audience to see every aspect of the shot in fine details, which is due to the high resolution of the camera, which captures everything very clearly for the audience to see. The transition from the institution ensures the continuity of our film, so there is no sudden change, which would disrupt the tension we want to create from the very first few seconds of our film. We used a black fade in transition instead of a white one as we thought, using the white 'fade in' would imply that it was a flashback, which we didn't want to convey so we decided to use a black transition ensure the continuity of our film. Also the colour black connotes death, badness and most of all horror and scared happenings. The use of having the phrases 'A Movie Based on True Events', allows the audience to relate to the film, as they begin to feel this could happen to them, increasing their adrenaline. However to improve this it may be better to say 'Based on True Events', as the audience already know that it is a film. The use of white font, conforms to the stereotypical writing which are present within horror films, which makes the opening two minutes effective. The 'fade in' transition of the titles allows the titles to flow and makes our film more fluent, rather than having our titles suddenly appearing onto the screen, which would be amateur looking and less effective. The music we used during this shot synced with the actions of the characters movement, for example, having the non diegetic noise of the leaves. Having the noise of the leave crunching under the girls shoes created a sharp crisp sound which emphasises the silence of 'the woods', generating a scary unnerving atmosphere for the audience. Another piece of music was added here in the background, which increases the tension due to its a low toned pitch. Involving a young lady in the establishing shot makes the audience suspect that something bad is going to happen to her, which conforms to a horror genre as, stereotypically, its usually a blonde innocent girl, which is the antagonist and the one who is victimised, as they are seen as weak. This establishing shot gives very minimal information amount the story of the film, except that the main character is most likely would be the young girl. However the following few seconds, about 5/6 seconds into the film, allows the audience begin to create a sense of what the story is about; the girl. The opening sets up the story  by having the presents of the girl within all of the shots, which suggests that the storyline would be mainly based about this girl and due to the types of camera work used it is about whatever or whoever is stalking her.
The genre of the film is obviously a horror, but what tells us that from the opening? Well, the black 'fade in' transition suggests that its something bad, due to the connotations of the colour black being associated with death etc. The use of the non diegetic music of the leaves, adds a subject of suspense as usually in the woods you could hear a lot more things, so to a certain extent the music makes the woods seem mysteriously and unnervingly silent. The use of the unfocused shot intrigues the audience and makes the atmosphere of the film eerie which conforms to the genre of a horror. Also the use of the white formal font conforms with the titles of horror film, which further increases the genre of the film. 

Camerawork
We used many close up shot throughout our opening two minutes as they add tension and suspense, partly due to the minimal amount of aspects you can see. This low angled close up of the boot of the girl walking through the wood suggests that this may be important to the film to trace the tracks of the girls whereabouts, as close up shots can imply the significance of things. This close up provides extra information about the girl, as they can create an image of what the girl looks like due to the type of clothes she is wearing. We used countless close ups as they conform to the conventions of a horror film as they create tension, which the target audience like to feel when watching a horror. The use of the close up shots also allows us to shorten the duration of the shot, reinforcing tension and anxiety of the audience as the short cuts of the close up generates a feeling of urgency and suspense. We also used some long duration shots as this makes the audience feel uneasy as they do not know what to look for as they are afraid of something jumping out on them, which was reinforced with the background music.  We ensured that the camerawork was to be stable, avoiding amateurish shots to be captured. This conformed to the techniques of not only horror film makers but every single film maker, as stabilizing the shot, ensure a fluent high quality and professional  film.
Setting/ location
The location of 'The Woods' was firstly set within a wood, as we believed it was very relatable to the audience as its a very everyday place to go. This location also is a very traditional setting for a horror film, for example, 'Friday the 13th', meaning our location conforms to a horror genre. This shot in the woods is called a 'subjective shot which is a type of shot in which the camera is positioned as if looking through the subject's eyes. This is very effective as it allows the audience to become involved within the film as they feel as if they are the antagonist. The shot allows the audience to see a panorama of the woods, which gives the audience a feel of the atmosphere. The use of the diegetic music of the girl panting, and the shot moving frantically from side to side, suggest the fear and weariness the character has, which emphasises the spookiness of the silent wood.
Within our opening two minutes we had two locations; firstly the location of the woods and then a fade in transition of what is seen as the girls house. Having the secondary location of a household, makes the audience relate and associates themselves to the film as they think this could happen to them. The house location also conforms to the horror genre as usually this is when murders or the scary events happen. This high angled long shot enables the audience to see the neighbourhood of the antagonist due to the highness of the shot; the neighbourhood looks unnervingly peaceful.
Editing 
Editing is essential to keep the continuity of the a film, as bad editing can lead to a film being unsuccessful and disrupting the atmosphere for the target audience. We ensured that our editing was accurate and precise so it would make our opening two minutes as professional as we could and to ensure the continuity of the film. An example of our editing skills was the match-on-action of the girl entering the bathroom of her house. This involved us filming three different shots and editing them to create a fluent opening of the door. The match-on-action shows may elements of mise en scene, such as the use of the white clothing in which the girl is wearing. This use of white clothing suggest innocence, purity, youth and symbolises that she is or may be the victim of what will commence. The use of lighting in this editing technique is fairly effective because it suggests that something bad is following her, demonstrated by the dark light behind her. We also used this match-on-action shot previous, when the character is in the wood. We thought this technique makes the whole of our opening two minutes more fluent and shows our skills of editing. In the non diegetic music, we added a piano rhythm when she opens the door, which suggest a sense of discovery while she's opening the door. This sense is created by the use of match on action as she is revealing what is behind or inside the bathroom of her house. We also used hot lighting within the film, which subverts to a stereotypical horror film. This use of hot lighting makes our film more contemporary and creates a sense of realism due to making the colour in the shot warm and bright, which makes the audience relate to the film even more as they can relate to a cosy, warm atmosphere. We decided to use hot lighting to create a sense of realism, which would furthermore engage the audience. Having used two locations within our opening two minutes, it allowed us to use many different shots, which expressed different effects, which we wanted to portray, such as the point of view shots. We used many point of view shots within the woods scene, to create a sense of the antagonist stalking and following the young girl in the wood; however we used many more point of shots with in the second sequence. We did this to engage the audience even more so they could relate to the film but also to make them feel as this is through their eyes, meaning they would be more scared as they feel as this is happening to them presently.

Props and special effects

There are two types of special effect categories; optical effects and mechanical effects. Optical effects are the effects where computer technology is needed after or during the filming,for example, SGI. Mechanical effects is where the use of props and effects which are physically used, for zombie skin make up. In our film we used mechanical effects which was the use of the fake blood. We used this so we could make the cut as realistic as possible as the more realistic it looked the more the target audience would be engaged with the film. We used other props such as the scarf, which the protagonist is wearing for most of the film. The scarf could come under the category of costumes and props as it is not a necessity piece of clothing. The scarf was used to show the youthfulness of the girl, as we wanted to portray her as innocent as we could, which is why we used a more childish like scarf which is reflected by the scarf being multicoloured. We also used shampoo and conditioner containers in the shot were the girl is looking up from water in response to the bang outside the bathroom door. We made sure that these containers were in it as they made the shot more realistic as they are necessities which stereotypically girls require. We also had them within the shot for our sponsors, meaning used them as product placement. This is when specific products are shown on purposely in the shot so the audience would want to buy them more and gives the product advertisement, which therefore increases the chances of the product being brought. Finally we also used toilet paper when the girl quickly covers the cut with it so she can close the door. This prop was also used to make the response of the girl reaction more realistic and life like as when you usually cut yourself you place something on it to stop it from bleeding. Generally, we involved all our props to ensure that our film was realistic as possible, which would allow the audience to engage, relate and associate themselves with the film quickly and more easily. 

Another special effect would be the use of the underwater camera, which we used within the bathroom scene. We used this to explore new angles and ways of filming, which would engage and involve our target audience even more as it creates a sense of them hiding and gazing from beneath. This effect also created unnerving quietness, as all you could hear was the diegetic noise of the rippling water. This was effective as it created tension as the non diegetic music fades out, making the audience feel uneasy as they are expecting something to make them jump. The angle of the camera was a low angled shot, which makes the audience feel less superior than the girl, to certain extent, we are the germs and blood on her hands she is washing off. Having it low angled, gives limited view as the audience can only see the rippling girls face through the water, therefore increasing their adrenaline. We used our protagonist to exploit the male audience (stereotypically), voyeuristic nature as this would attract this side of the target due to having an attractive protagonist.   

Costumes- Protagonist and Antagonist

We believed that costumes were vital to ensure we portrayed the full effect of each character. We wanted to make the protagonist to be seen as innocent and as normal as we could, which would make the audience feel more sympathetic for the girl, if something bad happened to her. This portrayal conforms to an horror film as stereotypically a young girl is used to to emphasis her vulnerability within the film. The protagonist clothing, which was visible on screen for the first minute, consisted of; blue jeans, brown boots, multicoloured scarf and a green jackets. The use of the jeans, boots and jacket made the girl seem as normal as any other, which would make the audience feel similarly vulnerable as they can relate themselves being in this position. The use of the normality of the clothing makes it more realistic and makes the protagonist seem more of a target. Further on, the protagonist takes off her green jacket to reveal a white coloured top underneath, which is visible for the remaining time of the film. The white top connotes purity, innocence and youthfulness, which was the explanation of using this colour of top, as we want the audience to feel lots of sympathy for the young lady. We decided having the white top showing from here as this is where the girl needs to feel most vulnerable due to the oncoming events about to occur, meaning reinforcing even more sympathy for the audience to feel for her character. The use of camera shots emphasised and supported what we wanted to portray, for example; the long shots of the girl made her feel more vulnerable due to the distance of the character from the camera. The lighting we used for the girl was fairly bright, so it would bring out the features of her face and suggests that she is innocent and vulnerable, due to the light intensity we used on her. Having the girl wearing two costumes within our opening two minutes emphasises the normality of the girl and furthermore reveals that she is the protagonist of the opening due to the white top being revealed when the bad events are about to take place.
In contrast, our antagonist had to be portrayed as the complete opposite of the protagonist, meaning being portrayed as scary, fearful and just as evil as possible. The costume, which was visible on screen, for the antagonist consisted of a brown jumper, with a brown velvet jacket over the top, with maroon jeans, and finally a brown towel with a stitched on smile to suggest that evil wears an unnerving smile. The part of the costume which was not seen were the shoes of the antagonist, which were high heels, which obviously subverts to a stereotypical horror film as high heels are stereotypically designed and worn by girls not murderous antagonists. We used the high heels so that the character was towering over the protagonist, which emphasised the vulnerability of her and the superior and powerfulness the antagonist has over her; which is reflected through the clothes worn and the stance the antagonist has. The clothes which were visible, were all the same colour, brown, but different shades, which makes the antagonist seem more serious, meaning they have planned to do this. The colour brown also connotes to being down-to-earth, suggesting the person behind the mask could be anyone, even the last person you expect it to be. This colour also hides dirt, which could suggest what ever happens to his victims the blood on  his hands will not show. The use of having normal clothes subverts the stereotypical horror film as the antagonists in horrors usually have a costume which contrasts from everyday life, for example, the clown from the film 'IT', or scream, with the oversize black cloak and mask. The mise en scene of the mask of the antagonist makes the audience feel fear due to the hidden identity of their face and the stitched smile. The stitched smile suggests that they are happy this is happening, which the audience feels unnerving, which furthermore adds to the scare factor. We had the antagonist standing behind the young girl for many reasons, such as, it creates another enigma of what the girl is screaming at even though there is something much worse standing warm blooded behind her. Also having the antagonist  behind the girl shows the superior of him and the vulnerability of the girl, making the audience feel more sympathetic for her as there looks like there is no escape from his grasp. Finally the antagonist is standing behind her so the audience can see what he looks like, which gives them a little insight of this character and also implies that bad things always creep up on you! The costume of the antagonist contrasts with the protagonists white top, so when she is standing in the foreground of the medium shot, they contrast making the focus pull more on the antagonist due to the contrasting colours and the expression of the girls face.
This medium shot introduces the secondary character of our film, the antagonist. We introduced the antagonist in the last few seconds of our opening two minutes so our film would end on a cliffhanger and create many enigmas for the audience to ponder on. Also it makes the audience scared and fearful as the antagonist just popped out nowhere, making the audience feel as though this could happen to them.
Fonts and font styles (Opening credits)
 The image on the right shows different opening credits which are present throughout our film. These opening titles allows the audience to see who is involved in the film, from acting to producing and costume designing, which enables them to see if there is any well known actors in it. Having well known actors usually attracts audiences due to the reputation of the actors acting history and success in previous films. Our opening credits began at the beginning of our opening minutes, where we used a fade in and fade out transitions, which gave our film the continuity, instead of the credits jumping on screen disrupting the atmosphere we wish to set. We decided to have the font the colour of white, as it connotes innocence which refers to the protagonist, but also conforms to a stereotypical horror film. The use of the white allows the font to contrast from the background, enabling the font to stand out clearly and boldly. The font was mainly placed in the bottom right and left hand corner so the audience can see all the aspects of the shot. We also ensured the font was a reasonable size so the audience could easily read them, meaning this would not disrupt the film. The font we used was 'Ringbearer', which we then edited and adapted it to suit our film. We added small scratch marks to make the font look a little wood like, which would link to the name of the film 'The Woods'.
Title- The Woods
This is the final image you see of our opening two minutes, the title 'The Woods'. The placement of the title was at the end as we believed that the film was building up to the revealing of the antagonist and the title of the film. Having it at the end also ensures that this is the final images the audience remembers and imprinted in their minds , which would make them intrigued and wanting to watch more of 'The Woods'. We used white font so the font would clearly contrast from the black background so that the font is clearly visible and creates a sense of fear and ghostly effects. To reinforce the scariness and fright, we added the use of diegetic noise of the girl's echoing scream, which would increase tension and scare the audience watching the film. This scream reinforces the enigmas in which the title, 'The Woods', creates, for example; what is the girl screaming at as the antagonist is standing behind her? The title also creates an enigma of why is the woods so significant to the film, which furthermore intrigues the audience into watching the film.

Evaluation- Activity four

Target audience for our opening two minutes
The picture on the left shows what our target audience would look like, 15 year old's and above. The target audience with the age of 15 usually do different things compared to the other side of the spectrum of our target audience, as our audience ranges from 15 to at least 30.
Stereotypically, girls of the age of 15 do a lot of shopping in, such as, the high revenue shops Office, Hollister, Urban Outfitter to the lower end which consist of New Look, Primark, Republic and Topshop. Their other interests consist of listening to pop styled music and watching TV programmes such as, Friends, Keeping up with the Kardashians and America's Next Top model. These stereotypical interests of 15 year old girls, suggest that they would like films such as romances, rom-coms, comedy genres. However, girls above the age of 16 become more independent and mature, so their interests differ, for example, going into lingerie shops, perfume shops and male shops for boyfriends, friends or if they want something baggy to wear. Also they start to watch programmes such as, Geordie Shore, The Valleys, CSI etc.
Now, 15 year old boys have many interests, for example, stereotypically they all love sports like football rugby, cricket, tennis and basketball. They also like video games on various consoles (Xbox, Playstation), which would keep them occupied for hours with all the countless games which are designed for these hardwares. They usually play action filled games, such as, Call of Duty, Halo and Bond games. They also watch TV programmes such as Match of the Day as theyre associated with sports, which like I have said, stereotypically they like sports like football. As they grow up they begin to like shopping to get the newest trends and fragrances, which they purchase from shops such as Topman and American Eagle. They also listen to music with the genres of R&B and Rap.
We thought our target audience would range from 15 and above as the males usually like the adrenaline buzz, which horror films usually provide for them due to the fearfulness they create. Males also like horrors as there are elements of blood and little violence in them, which stereotypically males like, which is why our target audience would probably be around 51 % male,  whereas females would be 49%. Females would also be part of our target audience as they would want to watch a film, which allows them to escape their everyday life. Also horrors do not promote violence, which stereotypically females do not like violence, which would be another reason why females would want to watch a horror as they are not promoting violence but fear, which the female audience would sympathise. Also females like horrors as they can easily engage and relate to them as usually the main character consists of an attractive male or the protagonist is female. This is explains why we used a female protagonist as the males would be attracted to her but the females would engage and associates themselves of being in the protagonists' situation.