Horror Film Productions [Part 2/2]

Hammer Film Productions;

Hammer Film Productions is a British film production company based in London. Created in 1934, the company is most well known for a series of gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid 1950s till the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fictions, thrillers and comedies. Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was due,  to distribution partnerships with major American studios, such as Warner Bros. 

The first series of films created were The Curse of Frankenstein which came out in 1957 with only a budget of £65,000 was capable of making £8 million. The huge box office success of The Curse of Frankenstein led to the inevitable desire for a sequel in The Revenge of Frankenstein. The next film created was Dracula and with a final budget of£81,412 the cinematography began in 1957.The film was then released in 1958 and created a staggering £81,412.

Horror Film Productions [Part 1/2]

Blumhouse Productions;

Blumhouse Productions is an American film and television production company. It was created by Jason Blum. These productions are known mostly for producing low-budget horror films, such as Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge and Sinister. The company currently has a 10 year film deal with the conglomerate studio Universal Studios. Since the creation of Blumhouse Productions in 2009, they've created franchises earning them billions of dollars. The first horror film created was Paranormal Activity and on its initial release $193.4 millions.

A-Level Media Studies: The Marksman (A GRADE) - Overview

A-Level Media Studies: The Marksman (A GRADE) - Overview

As a group we decided it would be beneficial to do more extensive research as this would later help us with what shots and themes were being covered in other peoples A Level Media film openings. In the opening I stumbled upon the opening includes a 'siverline' productions and 'an association with E4'. The use of this is effective as it makes the audience find the production more realistic rather than a small a small production. Also the use of being in association with E4 gives an understanding to the audience of what they are to expect as often E4 portray more dramas about gang culture and crime. Thus giving an indication of what themes are to be expected. The titles then transition into a fade showing a high angle shot of two hooded figures on the floor,with one holding a gun. Already the use of a gun in the opening gives an indication of what is too later happen. Additionally in the first opening shot the man on the left hand side appears to be wrapping something the leg suggesting he may have been shot, which is presumed due to a gun, being in the same shot. We then see the injured person hand the gun to the person filming. The audience now perceives this as a documentary due to footage being filmed by the people being involved.

The camera quickly focuses on the gun being held by the person appearing to be filming, abruptly the person appearing to be filming is now holding the gun with two hands and is holding the gun directly in front of the injured person. The audience is to know what to come but are at this point confused to know why. The gun is then fired. Editing has allowed them to re-create a gun fire and blood splat which dramatises the scene.

Film Pitch & Film Overview

We have shown our film pitch to the class in order for them to get an understanding of what our film is about and what will be the main plot. Whilst presenting we explained how we'll have a protagonist and antagonist. The protagonist, Imogen, will be played by Ellie-Spencer Webb and the antagonist, Josh, will be played by Lucas Bowles. We aim to film a psychological thriller opening following the progression of the Joshs' schizophrenia and his relationship with Imogen. We chose this plot line as within psychological thrillers it plays on the mind and is usually links to how sadistic the antagonist is, in addition by bringing awareness to mental illness we plan on showing people the traits shown in people who suffer with schizophrenia mixed with a toxic relationship and how it affects not only Josh but also Imogen.

Additionally whilst presenting our pitch we changed our name to 'side effect' as we all felt it fit the film better for what the thriller was going to in tail. The name of the film also leads to suspicion and apprehension as our target audience may be able to piece together that the title may relate to the mental illness. When choosing a type of mental illness to depict in our opening, we all came together and chose schizophrenia as the traits such as emotional flatness and catatonic behaviour would link to their already broken relationship. Films such as Black Swan, The Shining and Girl, Interrupted shows the majority of traits that we would like to execute.

During our film pitch,we also changed things whilst presenting such as the name of our film. This was changed as peoples feedback claimed they were unsure of what the film was about and why the main male character may be acting the way he is.

Media Set Clips

Take 1 of each shot;

Media Set Pictures

First Stage Editing Sde Effect

On junes blogspot, you will see that we have started our filming process. This was done over a period of a couple of hours and resulted in a lot of filming. Since yesterdays filming we have pieced together the clips and the only footage we deemed good enough equals to 14 seconds,which is an approximately good length as this for our flashback.