Evaluation Draft

Q1:
The main purpose of my script was to show either a disruption or resolution to a sequel or prequel to the films that I decided to study (Stakeland and Twilight) I decided to make a sequel to Stakeland. I had to make sure that I was demonstrating that in the horror genre things have to change to keep them interesting and engaging for the audience. I decided to make a disruption to the film and called it Stakeland 2: Evolution (As the genre is evolving). As I also had been studying Twilight I got some ideas from it as it breaks many conventions which you would associate with the horror genre and in particular Vampires, which is what my sequel is about. These areas are visually show through the 9 key frames which I had done. For this I got my actors dressed and in the write location with suitable props and lighting too.

Q2:
The main way in which I broke conventions was by looking back at all of the different vampire films I had watched re watching them and thinking about how I could flip some aspects upside down. I done this by making the vampire a women as in most films the vampire is male and mainly preys on the females, so what I have done gives women the power, this is shown I'm my nine key frames by having her kill Josh (The leader of the group you follow). I have also broke a big convention that surrounds the entire sub genre of Vampires by giving the vampire the ability to easily survive in the light this is shown in all but one of my key frames as the vampire is standing in the light. I have broke a convention which is apparent in some films which makes the vampires look like zombies, my vampire is very human like and apart from the distinct fangs you would not be able to tell that she is a vampire.

Q3:
When looking at locations at which I could get my 9 key frames the ideas I had changed when looking at the practicality of some shots and also the areas I could do them in. For me this was really reflected by my script because as I was writing it I kept having to go back and change the locations where the scene was set. In the end when I had finally decide son a location which could easily fit the key frames I was aiming to get. When scouting for a suitable location I had to keep in mind how I could break genre conventions, the location I decided to go with I thought worked very well as it was set in a woods which is a typical location, but the trees did not have any leaves which let light shine through which I believed that I could use very well as vampires aren't suppose to be out in the daylight as it kills them, so I could do it so that they survived in the light. As I was doing the sequel to Stakeland I looked closely at the locations used in the film and wanted to keep it similar and a large portion of the film was set in a woods so I knew that it would work. In one part of the film they mention that the vampires could not survive in the cold and the fact that were I took the photos for my location report had snow in it so it worked out really well. When I decided on my location I started to think bout some of the shots I could use so I kept most of my shots as mid shots and long shots so you could see the background but I used one close up of the vampires mouth in one shot. One if the shots I used was when I took the picture of the vampire embracing the sunlight I had to make sure that there was an opening in in the trees above so that it let in the appropriate light and if not use some artificial lighting.

Q4:
I believe that my script and nine key frames was rather successful in fulfilling what I set out to achieve, I believe that I done well in breaking some if the conventions to show how genres have to adapt over time to help satisfy and interest a new age audience. Being part of this new audience and as well as watching many old films I knew what was becoming old and predictable and started to think about what could surprise the new audience and engage them. I think that the language used in the script was modern but easily understandable so it got my point across easily, I also had the characters pick up on the broken conventions by having them say stuff like they didn't think that the vampires done is or could do that. My nine key frames really supported my script as I picked out the important parts for example; showing the cold and embracing sunlight. One thing that I would improve on if I was to redo this task would defiantly be costume, this was because the initial costume ideas that I had we're impractical due to the weather, although I had checked the forecast in advance the British weather is very unpredictable and it was extremely cold so I had to think about the actors well being and health. As the location was quite muddy I had to have the actors in suitable foot ware (Wellington boots) but tried my best to keep them out of the shots. I believe that it worked very well as a sequel as it followed most of the concepts of the first film, although it is based around a separate set of characters they still have the same goal from the first film (to get to 'New Eden') but they find out that it is not all that they expected.

9 Key Frames

Close up of Josh's face while running. This is to show fear on his face, this reinforces the idea of the Hyper-Mascualted vampires being fearsome. Another reason I used a close up of his mouth was to see his breathing this would be effective as it was cold it creates fog from the mouth and vampires can't survive in the cold.

Long Shot of Vampire crouching on the floor. This is he first shot of the Vampire by itself after its been revealed, this shot is here to establish it and get a look at it. The way I have it positioned (crouched almost on all fours) is to reinforce the feral stereotype, so it is almost animal like in the way that it is sitting. 

Low Angle shot of vampire standing over Josh. This is to show that the vampire has more power over Josh in this situation, this also shows that Josh is more submissive and that the Vampires are higher up in the food chain.

 High Angle shot of Vampire Circling Josh. This shot is also here to reinforce some of the stereotypes mainly the feral one as he is circling Josh like a predator would its pray, its also as if the vampire is looking down on Josh also showing that it is more important.

Mid Shot of Vampire listening to a distant voice. This is reinforcing the idea of supernatural powers as it has heightened sense of hearing. You also see the Vampire looking like a human just with the vampire fangs, this challenges the stereotypes from the previous film of the all being disfigured and 'zombified'.

Low Angle shot of Vampire lifting up Josh before she kills him. This also follows the stereotype of there supernatural abilities as she is lifting a full grown man up above her, she then kills him in the stereotypical bite to the neck.

Extreme Close Up of vampire mouth showing fangs and blood. This shot is to show the stereotypical fangs and blood dripping from her mouth without any expression the vampire face showing her as emotionless and cold.

Mid Shot on Vampire embracing the sunlight. For me I thought that this would be a very important shot  as this breaks every convention built up by the genre over the years, this is a very important shot to reinforce my textual analysis.

Mid Shot of Professor Grace resting injured at a base of a tree. This shot is here to reinforce the idea of a disruption as the Professor looks exactly like the vampire which gets the viewer asking questions and also causes questions to be asked by the group helping the story progress.

Textual Analysis

 I am writing about the films Twilight (Directed by Catherine Hardwicke in 2008) and Stakeland (Directed by Jim Mickle in 2010), the main focus of my essay is the development of the horror genre and I will be comparing what people would class as a conventional horror film to a unconventional version of it, and then go into depth on how they’ve have gone from one extreme to another of being shown very masculated to very emasculated, what I mean by emasculated is very humanised and not threatening at all, which is not a convention of the genre. The conventions of the Horror Genre been completely broken and the idea of a Vampire’s have been completely broken, this is shown through the costume and the camerawork although there is the stereotypical make-up used, for example the pale face. I will continue to write about how some scenes show this in the two films. The fact that Twilight has a Female director and Stakeland has a Male director could be reasons behind there extremes, as the male and female have different preferences from films and they wanted to express them.

 One scene from Twilight, which shows vampires as very emasculated, is that they consider themselves as ‘Vegetarians’. This is because they only kill animals and not all the time only when they need to shown in one of the scenes in which Edward introduces Bella to his family and they speak to her about it then continue to say that they consider themselves as 'Vegaterians'. In Stakeland people fear nightfall, as the vampires are mindless killing machines that kill anything that move and it has become a apocalyptic future were people are trying to get to a safe zone, they move round in groups for safety and fear even one. One scene that backs up this point from Stakeland is when they tie up a pregnant women kill her baby and let her bleed to death like an animal.

 In both Twilight and Stakeland one typical Vampire stereotype that is broken in the use of costume. For example you would expect a long black cape, smart suit, black shoes and maybe a medallion. Twilight has dressed them in your typical every day clothes which completely emasculated them as they look exactly the same as the humans it also takes aspects of fear from it. Stakeland has had a very different approach to the costume, they have took something you would associate with 'zombies' for example dirty and ripped clothing. In fact it seems as if they have based the Vampires on Zombies in some of the things they do. The make up is also that of a zombie as they do not gave the clean pale face with a bit of blood dripping from the edge of there mouth, it is more dark dirty skin with blood splattered all over there face and also in there hair, their teeth are rotting but still have the fangs. The scene which shows this would be the opening scene as once the vampire kills Martins family you get a close up of his face.

 One convention broken in Stakeland is The Final Girl that you would find in a horror film. This is because although there is a female in it she does not survive all the way through and instead of coming down to one female, there are a couple of male's in the end. Although in Twilight there is a final girl 'confrontation' but she loses and it falls down to the male to come and save the day, which ends up in a fight to the death and he wins, the scene in Twilight is when she gets lead to an abandoned dance studio by the 'bad vampire' James and she tries to run but  cant and tries to fight but gets knocked down then bit and as James bit Bella Edward and his family come to rescue and kill James and then Edward saves Bella . So in this case one convention is broke in both, or changed in some way. I believe that the reasons behind this for Stakeland could be because the film has been made in such a hyper masculated they did not want to have a female come out as superior and wanted to make sure man is more successful and comes out on top. The reasons behind it in Twilight could be because it is more of a love story it was a more fitting and stereotypical ending to be saved by the one she loves to prove his worth and strength to her.

 When you are first introduced to the vampires in Twilight you develop no fear. This is because when they are first introduced, the main character Bella looks out the window of the school cafeteria and see’s them all walk past. It is in slow motion and you get to see all of them individually in some detail, which takes the fear out of them, it implies in some ways that it is normal to be a vampire as it is only her that is interested in it. They are all dressed in typical teenager clothes jeans, top, jackets and trainers, this scene also breaks one of the biggest conventions surrounding the genre the fact that they are out in the day light and they are not dying let alone being injured. It is a very different experience when you are first introduced to the vampires in Stakeland. In the scene you see the main character Martin and his family hiding in a barn and there dog runs of and Martin chases there dog and then hears screams, when he goes to the barn he see’s his family dead and the baby getting eaten alive by a Vampire. This shows them as brutal savage creatures the complete opposite of humanized, the lighting in the scene is very low key too and the shots are mainly of the faces this shows there fear. Its as if Stakeland is trying to counteract the effect Twilight has had on the genre by making everything hyper masculine about vampires. The reason for the change from Twilight could be because they have set out to make a Romance but replaced the characters with Vampires to get a wider audience and its also something knew that hasn't been done before which would intrigue even more people to come and watch it to see what it is like.

 One of the scenes in Twilight were you really see that vampires have been Emasculated, in the scene Bella is standing in the car park and a car skids out of control Edward then uses his ‘Vampire Powers’ to save her they then pause and gaze into each others eyes. This shows vampires as extremely humanised as they are not supposed to have emotions and feelings; it is mainly shown through the camera work as it has a close up of the two gazing deeply into each other’s eyes. A scene from Stakeland is when Mister saves a nun from two bandits. When he is killing them he looks at the nun and pauses for a second and the camera focuses on him and has a close up of his face showing his emotion. This backs up my point as he is human and he is showing emotion over a person. In Twilight they even go as far as developing the emotions so when Bella is in trouble he believes it is his duty to protect her. In one scene they find out a very ‘vicious’ more ‘traditional’ vampire is hunting her. Edward and his family then protect her. This shows them very humanized as they all have developed emotions and feelings and it is not just one.

Stakeland is an independent film this means that it does not have a large budget this means that it cannot rely on CGI to carry the film, they get around this by putting heavy violence and gore into the film itself. This would compare to Twilight as it is a big budget hollywood movie which means they have access to a lot of CGI, for example instead of having Edward burn in the sunlight in the scene where he reveals himself as a vampire to Bella, his body sparkles, in another scene he carries Bella on his back jumping from tree to tree.

 In Stakeland and Twilight the way that the Vampire is shown in the horror genre has changed completely, spiraling of in many different directions from being shown very masculine and feminine. During the film however you do see some of the traditional representations of a Vampire in both for example in Twilight they bite the neck and in Stakeland they can’t go out during the day. One thing that could of influenced this is the fact that the director of Twilight was a Women and the director of Stakeland was man so they could of expressed there views on what they believe vampires to be through the films. Another reason behind this is the fact that following your typical genre conventions is becoming boring and predictable this means films makers have to mix up the conventions to make it interesting again to keep the audience guessing.

Script- Stakeland 2: Evolution

Shot Types:

1.

Close up of Josh's face while running. This is to show fear on his face, this reinforces the idea of the Hyper-Mascualted vampires being fearsome. Another reason I used a close up of his mouth was to see his breathing this would be effective as it was cold it creates fog from the mouth and vampires can't survive in the cold.

2.

Long Shot of Vampire crouching on the floor. This is he first shot of the Vampire by itself after its been revealed, this shot is here to establish it and get a look at it. The way I have it positioned (crouched almost on all fours) is to reinforce the feral stereotype, so it is almost animal like in the way that it is sitting. 

3.

Low Angle shot of vampire standing over Josh. This is to show that the vampire has more power over Josh in this situation, this also shows that Josh is more submissive and that the Vampires are higher up in the food chain.

4.

High Angle shot of Vampire Circling Josh. This shot is also here to reinforce some of the stereotypes mainly the feral one as he is circling Josh like a predator would its pray, its also as if the vampire is looking down on Josh also showing that it is more important.

5.

Mid Shot of Vampire listening to a distant voice. This is reinforcing the idea of supernatural powers as it has heightened sense of hearing. You also see the Vampire looking like a human just with the vampire fangs, this challenges the stereotypes from the previous film of the all being disfigured and 'zombified'.

6.

Low Angle shot of Vampire lifting up Josh before she kills him. This also follows the stereotype of there supernatural abilities as she is lifting a full grown man up above her, she then kills him in the stereotypical bite to the neck.

7.

Extreme Close Up of vampire mouth showing fangs and blood. This shot is to show the stereotypical fangs and blood dripping from her mouth without any expression the vampire face showing her as emotionless and cold.

8.

Mid Shot on Vampire embracing the sunlight. For me I thought that this would be a very important shot  as this breaks every convention built up by the genre over the years, this is a very important shot to reinforce my textual analysis.

9.

Mid Shot of Professor Grace resting injured at a base of a tree. This shot is here to reinforce the idea of a disruption as the Professor looks exactly like the vampire which gets the viewer asking questions and also causes questions to be asked by the group helping the story progress.

Location Report

Evaluation of the Area:

These are photos of the locations I would use for my film. I have chosen them as I believe they would be appropriate for my story as it is quite open and un-populated, also I can relate it to my Thesis Statement in my Textual Analysis that conventions have to change. The location is quite a big thing in mine as in Stakeland they say at one point that the Vampires stay away from cold places and the fact that in my sequel at this part they have just been attacked in daylight breaks the conventions in two ways, one being its snowy making it cold and two being daylight. I would not have to set dress the scene at all, the only thing that you may have to do is that if the snow disappears we would have to use artificial snow. 

The image on the right is where they find the scientist and the image on the left is the opening to the field.

The image on the left is were the camp at the start would be set and the image on the right is of an area of the woods in which you would see the group running.

This is a shot I could put in at the end of the scene of a abandoned town they try to head to for safety.  

Accessibility:
 There many different access points to the field on foot, there is also a few gates at which a vehicle could get into the field. The town you can see in my last photo is easily accessible from the main road that runs between the field and the town. One entrance to the woods which we would probably mainly use is easily accessible by foot but not by vehicle, but there is access to it further around.

Health and Safety:
 The area is very safe overall but some things you should be aware of are; there are people that use the fields and part of the woods to walk dogs regularly so we would have to put up signs to let them know or to divert around the locations needed. There is a clear path through the woods but there are tree roots that may stick out of the ground so you must be careful with your footing. One more thing would be in the woods itself there is a area called 'The Bomb Hole' which is a huge ditch in the ground, but it is easily avoidable and we should be able to film around the area.

Lighting, Noise and Electricity:
 Unfortunately there isn't really a source of power that we could use, therefore we would have to use generators which there is space for. There is no Artificial Lighting in either the Field or Woods so we would have to bring our own lights. There is also not much sound apart from the wildlife, this would benefit though as you will not have car noises in the background.

Contact:
 If you were to use the above location we would have to be in contact with the local council to arrange times and dates at which to use it. We could easily find the contact information of the council online or through asking some of the local people.