Blurb

Hi, I'm an AS Media student, and this blog contains research into the different aspects of film and media, specializing in the Slasher genre. The research has all been put towards the development of my coursework production 'Camp Ivy', which I co-produced with Poppy and Millie. Our coursework has been influenced by the rural locations and mise-en-scene in Friday the 13th and Eden Lake.

Wednesday 27 March 2013

PP - Actors and Casting

Alys
Sydney Prescott - Scream

Alys:
We cast Alys as the final girl as she has dark brown hair which is comparable to final girls from a lot of slasher films. She also has done a lot of drama which meant we could trust her to act well and work well when given direction.






Ben

Ben:
We cast Ben as the outsider of the group as he was willing to play this part and when asked to found it easy to portray this character. 
                                                           









Danny
Danny:
Jock (Dylan) from All the Boys love Mandy Lane
We cast Danny as the Jock of the group as he also has had some experience with acting and found it easy to switch into the role of a Jock. Being good friends with people in the group meant he was very willing to participate and like Ben and Alys listened to our direction well and understood what we wanted to achieve.

             


scream queens
Poppy:
Poppy
Poppy played the part of the scream queen as she is blonde (fitting the scream queen stereotype) and the opening to our film was based around the scream queen being the victim. Because Poppy was part of the production team, by having her cast as the scream queen it made it easier to re shoot as she was able to give up more free time and volutneer.


Tuesday 26 March 2013

BBFC Age Ratings


BBFC classifications
Examiners for the BBFC classify films for theatrical release using guidelines. The examiners look at the following issues:
  • discrimination
  • drugs
  • horror
  • sex
  • nudity
  • language
  • imitable behaviour
  • sexual violence
  • violence
  • theme
  • context
  • tone
  • impact on audiences feelings
  • format e.g. DVDs create a higher risk of underage viewing.
We have rated our film as a 15. This is because there is a strong theme of stalking and violence. The BBFC guidelines for a 15 classification allows the following to appear in films:
  • strong violence
  • frequent strong language
  • portrayals of sexual activity
  • strong verbal references to sex
  • sexual nudity
  • brief scenees of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
  • discriminatory language or behaviour
  • drug taking

A 15 classification allows for strong violence, which is what appears in our opening when the scream queen is killed. We felt this rating was appropriate.

Friday 1 March 2013

PP - Camp Ivy Rough Cut 1



This is our first rough cut of our film Camp Ivy. By making this rough cut we have found it easier to establish which part of its don't work and what we could change to make it look more effective. Also from doing this we saw which parts of our production worked well and knew what we definitely want to keep in our final production.


From making this rough cut we saw that our narrative lacked anchorage, and a lot of what happens isn't clear, and may cause the audience some confusion. An example of this is when the chase scene starts. The final girl is in a wooded area but it isn't very clear as to why she starts running. We wanted it to come across that she noticed she was being stalked, but this didn't come across very strongly.

We also thought that due to the acting not being very strong we thought there was an unnecessary amount of speech, that makes the production come across more amateur. An example of this is when they are talking about their friend Mikey who died there the previous year. We intend to get shots of the friends putting flowers on a grave or somewhere at the camp to try and signify his death that way and this will hopefully improve our opening.

The inside of the buildings looked very derelict and looked quite effective. However, we probably didn't use the building to their full potential and should have used them for a flashback of how Mikey died or involved more of the chase involving the buildings, as they were one of the main reasons for us choosing this location.

Overall, doing this rough cut has helped us get an overall impression of how we want our production to eventually look and helped us decide what worked and what didn't. We plan to upload this initial rough cut to social networking sites. By doing this we will get feedback from our target audience and see if they agree on the same areas that need to be improved and if they have any other problems or queries about it that we have not yet noticed.