Horror Movie Opening Ideas

The mansion is an old heritage site and the building is abandoned, but not completely! The building is haunted by its previous owners which was royalty. But they were killed when a psychotic man wielding a knife invaded the massive building and killed everyone.

30 years later a photographer explores the off limit building to try and take creative pictures. During the photo taking he can hear noises out in the distance, but still in the mansion. He carries on taking pictures but some have blurred effects of a ghost, but he thinks it was just camera shake. The mansion is haunted by the killer and weeping of the people who were killed, the photographer can hear the cries of the people before they were killed.

The scene starts with a person running out from a room from loud noises with an over the shoulder shot, breathing heavily. Then goes into a fade in, fade out transition where the next clip is the mansion doors wide open with leaves blowing through it in slow motion. A voice over whispers, ‘here you are…now what?’ The music loudens with a rush of wind and again we see the person but with a close up of the side of their face breathing heavily once again. Then you see a hand grab around the corner of a wall by the top of the mansion stairwell and quickly retreats after the audience notices it. Then it ends. Shadows could be used as an eerie effect.

Pan: Action Adventure

The Movie advert for Pan shows us that the movie is in the action adventure genre, but in a sub-genre called Swashbuckler, fantasy or quest, which is mostly on the adventure side. The main conventions in the advertisement show spectacle when the flying pirate ship is floating through the sky and hovering what seems to be a giant quarry in 'Neverland'. There is also a sense of Suspense and Jeopardy as the main protagonist, (the boy) is captured and taken onto the pirate ship and when he seems to be taken or held by some other antagonists. The main character is not represented as a typical hero as he is young and may be depicted as quite useless and weak in situations that are shown in the advert. At the start he does show some signs of going against the rules as he seems to be in an orphanage and he drops he bowl on the floor with food splashing out of it onto the stone surface below, he shows strength and confidence when he is not scared about the consequences that may follow after him misbehaving. Although he may not look like a stereotypical hero you may see in other movies, he has the qualities of a hero such as inner strength and courageous.

Link to Slideshare Power Point

http://www.slideshare.net/AlastairSimpson/bacon-and-legs

Here is the link to my slideshare power point

Spy Kids Extract Analysis - Stereotypes

There are some stereotypes in this extract such as the spies who are the main stereotype of this film. We see both of the spies throughout the extract continuously changing in disguise and using high tech gadgets that we could only believe would be from the future. We also see throughout the extract amazing stunts and accuracy that we could only think they were people different from our normal everyday person. Race and nationality is not stereo typically represented in this extract as there are different ethnicity throughout it like at the wedding there are different people with different nationalities, and they are not seen as very stereotypical. Love and marriage are not stereo typically shown in this extract as when the two spies were keeping in contact, they stayed well away from each other which isn't what you would do when you loved someone, but this also ties in with the spies and having a secret identity. Gender stereotypes are not shown in this extract as the men and women are shown equally as there are two spies; one man and one woman who share the same abilities. But when the dark Apache helicopter fly over with the menacing formation and overall colour of the scene gender stereotypes are not shown here either.

Fragrance Advert - Liberte

This was my first design and draft for my Fragrance advertisement which was a rough idea for the fragrance and was the main ideas for the advert at the start.

This was my second design. Here I changed the tag line and I didn't have the words crossing over and following the line of the tree. I also increased the size of the title and I filled the bottle with colour to make it look like the perfume is inside of the bottle. I also changed the name of the bottle as I realized that 'Freedom' was not the name of the fragrance, 'Liberte' was. 

This was my third and final deisgn. Here I changed the title and made it bigger and also changed the place it was in. I also changed the slogan as the other one was not that good and I also changed the position of that. I also altered the place of the perfume bottle to make it more to the right hand side. Then I made the person bigger to take up more of the advertisement and to be the same proportion as the rest of the picture.

My target audience is young men aged 15-25  who like exploration but are used to the upper class life. This fragrance is where higher life meets Wildlife and this appeals to men in this area and to other men who want to feel free. It may capture some peoples attention because the background picture is very detailed and shows a great representation of wildlife. The sun shining through the trees will capture peoples attention because it is bright and the lens flare also adds to the affect. The area around in the picture shows emptiness and tranquility which also shows a characteristic of the word 'Freedom' or 'Liberte' in French.

Lynx Apollo Campaign Advertising

'Nothing beats an Astronaut'

Our ambitious project is to send people into space using our deodorant and shower collection, of Lynx Apollo

We want to embrace the customers in a scent which makes them feel as cool as an Astronaut

Our project is to make people use Lynx Apollo and make them feel like a real hero

Perfume Essay

B321 Analytical Assignment: A comparison of the representation of men in fragrance advertisements from the 1960s, 1980s and 2010s

I have chosen to compare three different advertisements that span ten decades of fragrance advertising and representation of men, Aramis and Company Print Advert (1960s), Polo-Ralph Lauren (1980s), Lynx Apollo: Lifeguard Advertisement (TV Advert 2013)

Lynx Apollo (Television Advertisement 2013) 

The relationship between all the characters represents the lifeguard as a strong, bold and good looking.  Then the girl is the ‘damsel in distress’, which shows a sign of sexism because it is showing the woman as a weak feeble character and the man as a brave and bold figure, because he doesn’t hesitate when there is someone who is in danger, in this case the girl.

 At the start of the advert the lifeguard is in the centre of the shot showing the significance of the lifeguard right at the start of the advertisement. It moves into a close up to show his emotions and almost see what he is thinking when he looks through the binoculars and sees the woman in the water and the shark, it shows the advert producers are using another camera technique as well as the close up, they use a point of view angle. As he jumps down from his high seat is shows him as majestic and higher class than the rest of the people thrown into the scene. The sudden change of pace happens when he spots the girl, the music changes from being silent to slowly morphing into being a fast situation. As he is running the camera is being handheld to make us think we are within the advert and part of the chaotic situation that unravels before us.
   
The design of the advert is to show an exotic location of where you would be if this scenario happened. It makes the surrounding area look peaceful at the start but then it flips, and turns to chaos. The lovely beach that it is at the start gets turned upside down as all the people run away from the disaster in the ocean.

The landscape around shows it is very hot as there are hardly any clouds in the sky and the surrounding land is a very hot looking area. This shows that there is an exotic location. As he swims through the water it almost seems he is a superhero as he ploughs through the water with a great amount of strength. It shows a great amount of contrast effect between the damsel in distress and the hero. 

When the hero hits the water we follow him to the scene of where the shark is, he beats up the shark and the camera shows us an underwater shot of when the lifeguard is punching the shark to show us the strength of the lifeguard. He then brings the girl onto the beach and the non-ambient music turns to a calm tone which goes along with what is actually going on in the clip. It is very romantic as they both look into each others eyes, but the non-ambient music then swiftly changes and the camera moves to see an astronaut walking along the beach. The girl who has just been saved by the lifeguard turns and runs towards the astronaut and gives him a big hug. This is quite sexist because it is saying that even if girls have their lives saved they are selfish and turn away from the hero and goes for the cooler guy with the cooler job.

Aramis and Company (1960's Print Advertisement)

The central image is a representation of a wealthy man of the 1960's and in the background is a woman. His clothing and area around him represent him as a wealthy working man with a woman. As you can see the man has around him expensive furniture and items laid about upon the table next to him, this is representing the man as a rich man who can spend his money on what he wants within his house. 

The man's expressionism also connotes that he is a seductive love machine. He is staring directly into the centre of the shot (into the audience) with an expression that shows that he is the centre of attention in this shot. 

As you look at the picture you will see the woman dusting in the background, this is typical 1960s sexism when women didn't have rights and that the women had to do all the housework whilst the men drank (as seen in the picture). 

The woman is the eye candy in the background and what all men would wants as a wife, the real message is that if you wear this perfume, you will be able to get a woman that does all the chores around the house like this woman is doing in the photo. The Aramis man is the man that other men look up to as he has already made it in life. This message tells the men using the fragrance that you may even become as wealthy as the Aramis man. The Aramis campaign celebrates a man of of accomplishment as he savours his hard-earned achievements. The new Aramis adverts now pay tribute to the old advertisements of the 70s, 80s and 90s. The word Aramis makes everyone think of a rich, well earned man, because in every advertising campaign Aramis and Company have done, includes a wealthy man in the centre of the shot. The advertisement feature a white, glamorous woman in the background showing a stereotype of there being no glamorous black women in any advert because white woman appeal more to the men that are buying the product.

Polo Ralph Lauren (1950's Print advertisement)

The central image is a representation of a muscular man riding a horse lpaying polo, hence the name of the male fragrance. Polo is a game played by upper class people and is a sport that is mainly played by men. It is a masculine sport where men ride on horses and play the game almost like hockey. As the main figure on the advertisement is readying his arm to hit the puck he looks very majestic in this pose as the horse gallops towards the audience. 

The picture is within the bottle which shows that this fragrance contains the masculinity to be able to be as classy as the man represented in the picture. The Ralph Lauren brand name is a well known designer brand which also may add to the representation of the the man in the advertisement to be an upper class man who can wear the this fragrance.

The Ralph Lauren man is represented as a warrior almost as he is wearing mostly dark clothing and his horse is black which shows the superiority of the man riding the horse.The way he is posed takes up a lot of space in the bottle which he is encapsulated in, making him show us he is the main part of this advertisement and to also show his masculinity when he is wearing this perfume. The other men who areinside the bottle are faded put and in the background also making the man on the horse in the centre of the bottle the most important part of the fragrance and that this is the qualities of a man you will get if you buy and wear this perfume and that this perfume will encapsulate you in not only a nice smelling fragrance but the masculinity that is held within the bottle.

Ralph Lauren is a well known brand that has been succesfull in making quality products for years especially in making fragrances and polo shirts. The brand name of this certain perfume links in with the other products that Ralph Lauren sell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photoshop Fun!!

Master and Commander

1)   This film is a historical pirate action movie. The movie fits in the action and adventure genre because there is a lot of suspense as one of the characters spots a shape through the fog, the officer of the watch has to make a decision if everyone on the ship gets to battle stations, the captain then comes out of his quarters because one of his sailors thought they saw a shape. The Captain (heroic protagonist) looks through the telescope with the silence there is fog and open sea to also add to the tension and isolation of the ship in the wide open sea, this is the suspense and jeopardy convention of this scene he is looking through the fog to see a bleak outline of another ship. Suddenly he sees as flash through the fog, cannon fire. He then shouts to his crew to get down to the decks, this shows his place and authority as above the rest of the crew.   This makes the audience excited to see what will happen, the main convention in this scene is speed and motion and suspense and jeopardy as all the crew are all rushing to get to their stations, the editing shows this when the cuts between clips are very fast. Another part that fits in the action and adventure genre is when the two ships start fighting, this convention is combat and conflict which is typical in an action and adventure movie.

2)   Sound: The soundtrack is mostly silent throughout the scene to build up the tension, but when one of the crew call everyone to call to arms there is a drum roll which is an ambient or diajetic alarm bell for everyone to then wake up and get the viewers and the actors hearts racing. when the flashes of the cannon fire are seen all the sound goes chaotic and is very loud.

Camera work: When the character at the start says to the rest of the crew to get to their stations the camera follows the captain (main protagonist) because he is the most important character. Also when the captain is looking through the telescope it shows as POV shot so that we can see what he is looking at. It also shows as two shot as the two characters at the start making the decision to tell everyone to get to their positions. The camera also pans around the ship to show how big it is.

Editing: When everyone is going to their battle stations the clips are moving fast to create some speed to the scene. Also there is just ambient sound in the scene and no non-ambient sound added into it like music or voice overs.

Action & Adventure: Kingsman extract

The narrative shows different Action and Adventure (AA) conventions as in the extract it shows different scenarios in which the young, intelligent males have to figure out a way to save themselves and others around them. This increases the tense moment that is happening at that time, this makes people sit on the edge of their seats because they are eager to see what will happen. Another AA convention that is shown is the villain, in this extract it shows one of the antagonists running and then bursting straight through a window holding a pistol and firing it simultaneously. It shows here with amputated legs, but without plastic springy running prosthetic limbs, it shows her wearing curved, sharp knives which earlier in the extract shows her about to cut someone in half with them.

Textual analysis for Gladiator

Editing: Title sequence, CGI, Text explains the historical background to the conflict in the roman period; it also explains the barbarians in Germania trying to resist the roman conquest. This helps the viewers/audience the time and era and helps the audience understand the plot in the story; this is a convention for an action/adventure movie.

Sound: We hear orchestral music that sounds ancient and foreign, with a wordless chorus. The mood is slow and wistful with the peaceful music and mingled with ambient sound of the gentle laughter of little children. It evokes his home life which is far away from the battlefield where he is right now.

Mise-en-Scene: The protagonist is running the palm of his hands along the top of his crops; this shows the home like features that he is thinking of. This is a romanticized scene due to the fondling of his crops at home. The music is slow which matches his feeling of slow and steady walking. The long grass is golden which is another point to the romance of the scene.

Editing: It is a straight cut from the long grass to the battlefield where it is reality. There is a deliberate contrast between the golden corn field and the dark grey, wintry battlefield. His head is down as he finally merges back into reality after thinking of home.

Sound: There is a sound bridge between the corn field and the battlefield because the main protagonist has been thinking about the corn field and then he goes back into reality on the battlefield. He keeps hearing the music because he is always thinking of home and it is within him in his heart.

Camera Work: An establishing shot is a wide shot of the battlefield, we can see in the wide shot we can see the forest which is dark and solemn, this is no place for the light hearted, this place is scary and creates a feeling of anxiety and a sense of foreboding. The roman army are standing ready to take the pounce of the barbarian army as they know that the barbarian army are lurking in the forest. A tracking shot of the main protagonist, Maximus is there to show the importance of him and how he is a higher rank than the people he walks past. There is another wide shot to show the barbarian army emerging from the forest to reveal their powerful army. 

Johnny English Reborn: Chase Scene

I watched the Johnny English scene where he is in hot pursuit of a man holding a very important object. In this scene Johnny English is faced with tasks to do beyond his physical abilities of jumping from one rooftop to another and to climb down a building with only bamboo scaffolding. But Johnny English has faced these obstacles with a simpler way. When the criminal jumps from one rooftop to another, English just walks onto the construction crane carrying a load which settles him safely on the other side. As he catches the villain with the barrel of his gun facing toward the criminal, English says: "hand it over...chimp". As the villain is caught red handed he jumps off the side of the building without hesitation. Soon after English finds a lift and takes a ride down it. When the man is going down the scaffolding there is action and tense music, whereas in the lift with an old woman, a young girl and English, there is calm, typical elevator music. As calm as anyone can be in an intense chase Johnny English walks out of the elevator and confronts the bad guy before they take pursuit again down the narrow streets full of people.
Johnny English Chase Scene

Idea for Fragrance poster

This is a picture of my Uncle at his wedding and I turned it into a fragrance poster as an idea

Qi Episode: Audience Pleasures

The Episode that I watched was Series L: 10 Lying which starred Jack Whitehall, Sara Pascoe, Adam Hills and of course Alan Davies and Steven Fry. The audience pleasure comes in from the different celebrity guests that come on the show. Jack Whitehall is known by teenagers mostly because he stars in the recent TV show 'Bad Education' and also stars in a panel show called 'A league of their own' which is also popular with teenagers and also adults. The other two comedians Sara Pascoe and Adam Hills are mostly know by adults due to their shows aimed at adults rather than teenagers. The show is all about questions and answers being 'Qi' meaning Quite interesting, which may engage the viewer and the live audience. Having all stand-up comedians on the panel including Alan Davies makes the whole atmosphere funnier due to their comments on a conversation or stupid answer to the question. Also having a very, very intelligent graduate from The University of Cambridge who has all of the knowledge and also some witty banter to add to the jokes going on throughout the comedians. Another point of audience pleasure is that Steven Fry gets the audience to join in too sometimes, and in this particular episode, they find a man at the back of the studio that knows all the answers to the questions. They name him 'the shouty man'. All of this come together to create a friendly funny atmosphere that everyone enjoys even at home.