Representation in vampire films - Jake

Here is a good example of the representation I wanted in the film. The two male leads, the original victim and assailant, fighting. Not only for revenge but also for their masculinity and honour. This paints males as warring, honour-bound fighters. This goes conforms to the stereotype that men are destroyers.

Here is an example of age, the old vampire who is supposedly more powerful is being beaten by the younger less experienced vampire. It also shows the woman vampire to be powerless at the beginning, this conforms with the ideology that woman are weaker than men, but at the end of the clip the female vampire slices the bad vampires face in two, this goes against most ideas that woman can't slice a mans face in two and also goes against the ideology is set up earlier that woman shouldn't fight.

Here is the actor who played the protagonist, I decided having him goes against stereotypes now that women were always the victims, I decided to go with someone a bit different, hence the long hair on a male. I think I should have gone for a more innocent, smaller victim who conforms with the usual stereotypes of horror films.

However, I think it's quite an interesting idea having him actually slightly taller than the vampire and appearing to overpower him but being scared of the vampire, this shows the true power there. This is most noticeable in the chase scene when he sees the man and runs, showing the terrifying aura the vampires are able to put out if they want. The feedback agrees however that a more innocent victim would've made the movie more effective.

Media institution - Jake

Here is the movie poster I created, I think it's a bit too cluttered but the vital points of a poster are there, the tag line, the title, the date, the technical information at the bottom and the age of the film. My aim for the poster was to be quite gritty, like the desire for the film, this way people won't get confused looking at the poster, expecting to see hollywood budgets. The tag line needed to describe the film, which I think it does quite well: "The prey must become the predator." It's imperative, the prey isn't going to maybe become the prey, they know he will. They know at some point in the film, there will be a role reversal, the anticipation for this will hopefully help add to the tension.

The date for release will be June 13th, I feel this is a good date as it will be in the cinemas for the summer holidays so the target audience will have more time to go and watch it. Alternatively, I might have the release date as the 25th of November, this way we can try and release it for christmas, going against the usual four month period, and we can showcase it at Bang! A local short film festival that is over 23rd to 25th of November, this film festival gains a large following each year and reviewers review the latest short films, this will hopefully get assistance from film reviewers and gain something of a following.

The advertising we do will probably be done via posters and social networking sites, such as facebook as this is quite easily done and low cost. If we were to go with a larger distributor we would probably have TV adverts, internet adverts and billboards but I like the feeling of being a small film and so the advertising will probably be quite minimalist at first. We would hope to gain more of a word of mouth advertising, hopefully with the help of a cult following.

If we were to go with a major distributor I would have Warner Bros as they have a good track record with successful advertising, for instance the Sherlock Holmes: A game of shadows advertising in the baker street tube station, this is good advertising as not only did the many people who travel on the tube daily, it also gained news coverage which is good national advertising that creates itself. Another thing is, the larger the distributor, then the more cinemas the film can get into, so we can have a more saturated release.



An independent company I would choose would be Fantastic Films, using Fantastic Films to distribute the film would allow for a much more cinema screen releases than we would be able to do without a distributor.

What I have learnt about technologies? - Jake

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

Looking back at our preliminary tasks - Jake

The audience for our film - Jake

It's important for films to have a target audience for a film, because that way there will be a definite audience for the film. Not only this but it also gives the film some direction and helps it to define itself as a certain type of film. For example, a film that is targeted at fans of lots of blood and large production values might not be drawn want to watch a low budget, subtle film.

We were aiming our film to be at young horror/supernatural fans. I have looked at five films that influenced us in the imagining and creating of the film. The films Fright Night, Let Me In, Lost Boys and the TV program Being Human are all fifteen certificates, whilst the fifth film we looked at, Underworld, was an eighteen. Looking at the BBFC guidelines on certification, our film fits quite neatly in the fifteen classification.

The BBFC demands that the film doesn't endorse discrimination, which our film doesn't. The film mustn't encourage or promote drug use, our film has the vampires crave the blood like drugs but it shows the problems of being a vampire so will likely discourage vampirisim. The film is allowed to have horror as long as it's not sadistic or sexualised, which our film isn't. The film is allowed to show dangerous behaviour as long as it doesn't dwell on anything that could be copied, so that's okay. In terms of language, there can be use of strong language as long as it suits the context, and it won't be used in aggression or repeated. Their won't be any nudity or sex. Violence is acceptable but can't be sexualised or sadistic, it also can't dwell on the pain of the victim. So, the film suits a fifteen category quite neatly.

I think that our target audience would be british teens who enjoy vampire films.

The target audience was targeted by using teenagers as the actors, this increases the connection between audience and actor, making the audience be able to relate more. We chose an alleyway, this conforms to the conventions because it's tight, confined and claustrophobic, it feels scary as there are only two ways you can go, this adds to the fear of the scene.

We did some surveys and found that 17 year old males were more likely to watch the film. We got feedback that said the shots built tension well but could have used a better variety of angles. They said they enjoyed the quick pace and the continuity was good for most of the film. The mise-en-scene was okay but could've been better. The feedback pointed out that the film doesn't really represent any social groups. The survey said that the film would be best suited for males who were 16-25. 50% of the surveyed said they would continue watching the film as they want to see what happens next. Some of the main criticism was because the film isn't obviously a vampire film. Also, the chase scene could've been tenser as it seemed like an action film. Overall we got an average of 40 out 60 from the surveys.

Shot by shot analysis - Jake

 Opening logos

The Lionsgate opening logo and our opening logo are similar in that they have differing colours depending on the genre. In this case the red connotes blood, which basically represents the vampire genre in it's entirety, it's all about blood. So, straight away the audience knows this is a horror film and they have suggestions it's a vampire film. "Lionsgate" is quite a nondescript word, it hasn't got many connotations and is why it's a good production company name. Lunar connotes the moon and makes the film sound like a werewolf film, one of the problems with the name. But, the use of the moon represents night, and vampires can only come out at night so it sort of works.

 Titles

In the titles we have a series of missing persons posters. This is similar to Lost Boys' opening titles in which various missing posters are surrounded by people having a fun time and enjoying themselves, this makes the missing people seem like an everyday thing and people just live with it. We didn't want to do this, we wanted to show the missing poster and have some evidence of what happened to them. This goes along with the conventions of people being taken or being killed by vampires.

 Sub-genre Conventions

We wanted more of a subtle vampire so we didn't go with the black eyes or incredibly pale, but we did want the animalistic appearance of a blood smeared face. We tried not to have a completely crazy, blood covered vampire. I think we did quite well with the blood, making it look like he's tried to wipe it off. As well as blood we have the sharpened teeth of a vampire.





Establishing character

By having the character alone, it shows he something of a maverick. He is able to run from a vampire showing he's agile. By having the vampire smaller than the protagonist it shows the power that the vampire has, creating fear in the larger person.






Mise-en-scene




By dressing the main character in white it connotes their innocence and naivety. By adding blood to the shirt, it gives a contrast between the innocence and the seriousness of a situation. White shows the purity of the character, adding the blood taints the character. It is also good as it seems cold and distant, like we wanted the vampire to seem, until finally being brought back to life when he sees the wound.

Key point 1 - The domestication of blood

In the film, Daybreakers, vampires are able to buy blood and it's very domesticated. In our film we wanted to replicate the same idea. Not as grandeur or marketed but more an underground thing. Vampire black markets and what not. Of course, being as this is only the start of the film we couldn't explain this or show this so we had a throwback in the opening credits. A simple thing from a look but it's importance would become known as the film progressed. Having the vampires selling and buying blood challenges the usual belief that vampires are all out killing for the blood.

Key point 2 - Not burning in sun

We decided to go against the usual idea of having vampires burning in the sun. Instead we had the sun hurt initially, but not kill. This way we could have the vampire go outside and interact with the world. This way we could have only the most powerful vampires killed by the light, this would be integral to the plot later on. We wanted to get the shot to be blindingly bright to represent the vampire having to adjust to his new found senses. The saturation of the light as the blinds were raised was a nice touch, showing the sunlight enter the room.

Reflections on the film - Jake

At the time of finishing the film, we thought it was okay. We didn't plan out our time successfully and we didn't use it to its full potential. I think the editing was good, but it could have been neater. The soundtrack is a bit too much, it should have been more subtle and eerie, another problem is that the credits ran on too long so we had to repeat the start of the soundtrack, not a big problem but noticeable all the same. Maybe end after the opening credits and have brief moments for when he gets bit. I think most of the film was rushed, not because we didn't have enough time but because we didn't use it well. We spent a lot of time nit picking the credits and the timings when we should have worried about the film itself. I think the ending should have gone on a few more seconds and having the actor inspect the wound but we cut the right amount from the bathroom shots as they broke a lot of rules and jump cutted around.