What Happens In Vegas: Film Evaluation

1. Our film incorporates generic conventions of a horror film as in the first scene, Rachael wakes up to see her stalker standing over her bed, which the audiece will then later find out that is a nightmare. This looks like a typical scene from a horror film as the lighting is very dark and the stalker looks very intimidating as opposed to rachael who is alone in bed, vulnerable. We have also added sound effects to add a dramatic tone. However, our film does challenge these conventions as the girl is not always alone, whereas normally in horror films, the vitim is usually isolated. I think our use of conventions indicates to our audience that it is a psychological killer, because although we do not see his face, you can tell that it is a normal persons body. The audience may also think he has a mental problem or seeks revenge as it is strange that he has killed, or wants to kill 5 best friends. Our clown-type mask may indicate that to our audience that we have been influenced by the film "It", as it is quite similar. It is also similar to "The Strangers", as they stalk the victims also; this is to keep the audience on edge.

The opening sequence from “It”, is fairly similar to our opening sequence of “Welcome to the Circus”, as both start with titles at the very beginning, in black and white and with music is playing. However, in contrast with our film, the titles in “It”, last for about ninety seconds, whereas ours last for about ten, as it is a smaller production. “It”, uses a lot of establishing shots to set the scene straight away and the audience know where the film is set, because one of the characters says the town name, whereas the town is not said in our opening sequence.

2. Gender is represented stereotypically in the first two minutes of our film. In our film, we are showing that the man (the stalker) is dominant over the women as he has already murdered 4, and wants his next victim (Rachael). This is very stereotypical and shows that the man/stalker always wins. In our film, the stalker (Brett) is dressed in all black with a coloured clown-like mask as the focus of the outfit. “The Strangers”, also wear masks to cover their identity however there are 3 of them and they are dressed slightly differently. The victims in both films are dressed in ordinary clothes, to show normality and vulnerability.

3. I think our film would be produced by a smaller, independent company as films that ours are similar to, were also made by smaller production companies; such as “The Strangers” (produced by Rogue Pictures) and “Copycat” (produced by Regency Enterprises).
I don’t think our film would be a TV series as most horror movies aren’t with the odd exception, such as Stephen King’s “It”. As it would probably be produced by a smaller company, it is most likely that it would not be an internet release where people can watch it free, as we would lose out on a lot of money. Our film may be an art-house film because if it was produced by an independent company, then we may not be able to afford to show the film in bigger cinemas. Our film probably wouldn’t offer opportunities for franchising/merchandising as it will be produced by a small, low-budget company. However, this is not final as if we could afford to, then we could sell copies of the mask as merchandise and/or copies of the jack in the box.

The company that would distribute our film would probably be
Warner Home Entertainment.

4. The audience for our film is mainly men, as it shows that men are dominant over women, and men tend to like horror films more than women.
Films that are mostly similar to ours are “The Strangers” and “It”, however these are more likely to attract adults, whereas our film features younger people, so may attract a younger audience. These films will also probably appeal more to men, as they are again, seen as the more dominant character. I think a classification certificate of 15 would be suitable for our film because it is a horror and include scenes of stalking, and maybe violence later on in the film. Although it does not show scenes of drug taking or sexual references, I think a 15 certificate would be most appropriate, as it may frighten people under the age of 15. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/. We asked twenty five, different aged people to fill out our questionnaires, to get a range of opinions. We found out that just under half of the people who we asked, preferred a psychological killer in a horror film and a lot of people are afraid of clowns, instead of ghosts etc.

5. The audience for our film is mainly been asked to put themselves in the position of the stalker, as it follows Rachael’s life, and this is what the stalker will be watching. This may create uncertainty for the audience as the young girls are very vulnerable. The scene in the woods will appeal a little more to men than it will women, as it shows the man (stalker), is dominant over the two girls. This scene may also frighten some children who are younger than 15 as it shows an unknown person, stalking two young girls. This relates back to the fact that our film is a horror and this is partly why our film is a 15 certificate.

This particular scene may engage our audience as it shows a long shot of the man stalking the two young girls. This relates to the fact that men would more likely see our film, than women, as it shows that the man is dominant over the girls.

We asked 4 people what they thought of our film to get audience feedback/response. This was very useful as we got to find out what our audience, (over 15's, mainly men) thought of our film "Welcome to the Circus". Feedback we got was that the titles and the camera shots fitted the genre of the film and that the makeup/mask was good. We also found out that they liked the idea of a clown, as it was quite creepy and a lot of poeple are scared of clowns. The shot-reverse-shot's were useful as they captured the therapist scene very well and at the end when the stalker keeps on re-appearing was effective also. They thought the editing was very good and seen as "smooth", which was our intention and the use of different locations fitted the genre well. From our audience response we found out that the music fitted the horror genre very well and was "tense and built up". Overall, our audience thought that it was a "good film" and "really enjoyed it", and we are very pleased with this result.
"Welcome to the Circus review" = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcTtvQNDvUA

6. The main problem we faced when wanting to film was the weather (rain), so when the weather was bad, we filmed our inside shots. When filming the nightmare scene at the beginning, we filmed Rachael waking up from a dream and rising up. However we wanted it to look faster to have a better effect, and so when we were editing on “Final Cut Express”, we speeded the shot up to look of better quality and we were really pleased with the end result. Another problem we faced was when we were filming the scene at “Laura’s” house (my house). We filmed some of the shots that were needed and then realised that the microphone wasn’t plugged in, which meant that we had to film the shots again. This wasn’t that much of a problem, however it wasted our time. We were really pleased with “Final Cut Express”, as there were effects that enhanced our film; I have also learnt more about editing.
As we used HDV cameras, we were able to shoot in widescreen, which improved our shots. Although the cameras were bigger and heavier to carry, the quality of the filming was much better than in our preliminary task, as there is better zoom control, which allowed us to show shots in more detail. The sound on the HDV cameras wasn’t as good quality as we expected, however when adding music and sound effects, the film, as whole, sounded better. We created our own music for the titles of our film, and were inspired by “Enter the Circus” By Christina Aguilera. We used sound effects and music throughout the rest of our opening sequence, from CD’s provided by college, to create our desired effect.

“Final cut express”, was the software that we used to edit our opening sequence.

This was the HDV camera and tripod that we used to film our opening sequence.

7. The research into the genre helped us as we looked at what is typical of a horror film. We decided on a psychological killer, and chose a clown type mask, as films in the past which feature clowns have proved to be successful because many people have a phobia of clowns. The storyboard also really helped us as it planned what shots we needed to use, so we could get straight on with filming and didn’t have to decide at the time. I feel more confident when using the equipment now as I can produce smoother shots. I am really pleased with the end result of our opening sequence as it has created the desired effects and I believe that it would target an audience of ages 15+. Even though there have been difficulties, I feel that we’ve been very successful and that I have learnt a lot in the process. I feel that I have come a long way since our preliminary task as the shots and framing are of a better quality in our opening sequence, as you can see below. The over-shoulder shots and close-ups, especially, are much better than in our preliminary task because we have had more experience using the cameras, and the quality is better (because of the HDV cameras).