My Music Magazine

Slasher Conventions

- There is lots of Blood and Gore is why is named Slasher genre
- It usually makes the audience cringe and brings them out of their comfort zone e.g Saw
- Usually lots of Nudes shown within slashers Such as Psycho - Shower scene
- Usually a connection of rebelling (Drink/Drugs/Sex) and Death  e.g Halloween
- The Antagonist is usually male although there are exceptions
- 'Final Girl' is commonly seen in Slashers, typically a teenage girl who manages to defeat the
- Male Gaze - this is commonly seen which means we see the killers point-of-view
- Its common that the killer is using a disguise or mask of some kind like Halloween
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Zombie/ Monster/Alien Conventions

- Sub-human creatures or adaptations of Humans are the Villains.
- They usually are extremely hard to defeat or have a certain weakness about them. E.g Zombies - Destroy the brain.
- Its often filmed using A Hand-Held Camera such as Rec.
- Often surrounds a group of people who are unfortunate and unaware of what's happening until they start dying off one by one such as 28 Weeks later.
- Alot of mistakes are made, making the wrong decision resulting in a death
- A lot of blood and use of ugly costume such as The Thing which are obviously scary.
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Extra's

I have been to see The Woman in Black and Ghost Stories in Theatre which have a different perspective on Horror and how its portrayed compared to film.

Woman in Black             

- Good Build-up/ Storyline 

- Only 3 cast members 

- One setting throughout 

- Sound and Lighting essential 

- Included an Interval 

- First half they were acting out the play and then it became real. 

- Most like a Psychological/ Supernatural film 

Ghost Stories 

- Narrator almost in the way they presented the story, however he was then brought into it. 

- 5 Cast members 

- Its several different stories within the one Story 

- Several settings throughout the Story - Always in darkness 

- Sound and Lighting essential 

- No Interval 

- The setting the Audience was in, the theatre set as an old derelict house with numbers painted on the wall which is similar to a pre-set and gets you thinking. 

- 4D in a sense, It got cold when it was mentioned and the smell of bleach was in the air when mentioned. 

- Most like a Psychological/Supernatural Film 

Tension is a huge similarity in Theatre and Film, Such as Insidious where there is a scene following the small boy through his attic towards a door which was very theatrical and was again in darkness apart from the significant red and the hallway accessories. Although Tension is crucial in ANY horror film as it means the audience is on edge and more scared. 

Upper Sixth Research :)

Wes Craven 


Writer/ Director/ Producer

1972 - The Last House on the left
1977 - The Hills have Eyes
1978 - Stranger in our House (TV Movie)
 1981 - Deadly Blessing
1982 - Swamp Thing
1984 - Invitation to Hell (TV Movie)
1984 - Nightmare on Elm street
1985 - Chiller (Tv Movie)
1985 - The Hills have Eyes Part 2
1985 - The Twilight Zone (TVSeries)
1986 - Casebuster (TV Movie)
1986 - Deadly Friend
1988 - The Serpent and the Rainbow 
1989 - Shocker
1990 - Night Visions (TV Movie)
1991 - The People under the Stairs
1992 - Nightmare Cafe (TV Series)
1994 - Wes Craven's New Nightmare
1995 - Vampire in Brooklyn  
1996 - Scream
1997- Scream 2
1999 - Music of the Heart (Non Horror)
1999 - Fountain Society (Novel)
2000 - Scream 3
2005 - Cursed
2005 - Red Eye
2005 - Paris Je T'aime 
2007 - The Hills have Eyes (Re-make)
2009 - The Last house on the Left (Re-make)
2011 - Scream 4

Q7. Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?

Looking back at the Preliminary task of creating a music magazine front cover, Contents page and double page spread; This meant that I had to learn several new skills to be able to take all of the necessary photographs which would suit my target audience which was found through audience research I had carried out, I then had to organise when and where I was taking my photographs and what of, and then once I had the correct photographs I was able to begin editing while again learning new skills based on new software which I hadn't used before all the while managing my time sufficiently.

I am pleased with my result but disappointed as I knew that I was able to do better. Firstly, I had to carry out all of my audience research which was easily done which I actually enjoyed doing, it was based on asking people questions and finding out their opinions. Although I was Ill for 2 weeks which meant that I was behind everyone else and needed to catch up, and ensure I meet all over deadlines.

I then had to plan based on what I had found out what each page would look like and what details would be included and by doing several sketches I finally came up with the final design that I wanted for each of the pages. I am a very indecisive person so I found it hard to finally decide on what I wanted, and I even changed my final sketch for the better as it enhanced my front page drastically ensuring that some of the most conventions where followed.

I then had to think about my pictures, Originally I wanted two Mixed-raced girls to be my Medium shot on my front cover, however one of the girls was unreliable and wouldn't conform when she was free which meant that I chose to only work with one of the girls. I was able to take some good pictures during the lesson however, before even touching the cameras I had to learn how everything worked.

I learned how the softbox and the light worked and the best way to position the reflector, and also how dangerous the trigger was, which all meant that my knowledge was progressing severely.

Once being taught I thought that I had everything down and understood however from the outcome of a few of my pictures it was clear that the lighting wasn't as it should have been which meant that one of the pictures I really wanted to use, I couldn't as the light was reflected across the whole picture making it uneven. I finally decided on the picture I wanted to use but then changed my mind as I thought I could create a better one.This involved getting two of my friends in the same place, dressed accordingly while I had the camera, I like to think I am a very organised person and I like to think that everything went to plan, we all met and I was able to take pictures, making the models pose in the ways needed, which worked well for the many different pictures I used on my double page spread. After that photo-shoot I changed my mine once again and returned back to my original front cover idea leaving my newer photos for my double page spread.

I had originally used Photoshop so setting up wasn't hard, I was able to use the skills I already had although when incorporating dafont.com, psbrushes.com and several of the things I was unsure that photoshop could do, things got much more tricky. I had to sit down and play with photoshop and try and make what I saw in my head on the computer which was a lot harder than I thought it would be and it also resorted in me changing and adapting my ideas.

One example of my progression which is shown through my work would be my contents page, as I started with that I made the background physically by using the stamp tool and then I was introduced to psbrushes, which meant that I had wasted a lot of time however I couldn't afford to lose time on my double page spread by going back and fixing my contents page so I had to leave it. This is evidence of how my knowledge of photoshop and the skills which I didn't know could have helped me from the beginning.

Before evaluating this I believed that I was a lot better at keeping time, however I did eventually run out of time on my Front cover as I left it till last which on reflection I wouldn't have done, but I managed to make the deadline with work that I was pleased to call mine, Several others said they liked mine, my teacher also liked it eventually after suggesting critical improvements.

Certain negative aspects to my progress in my work would have to be that if I had managed my time wiser then I would have been able to give each of my pages more details which would have overall given it a much more professional style. I had definitely improved as I have had the ability to reflect my creative thoughts onto my front cover, my double page spread and contents page.

Feedback

I was very curious what people thought of my work, when asking them generally what they thought, the comments were very vague and simple so I decided to put my work on facebook and asked my friends to give me constructive criticism, it was optional so i'm hoping that they were attracted to it and wanted to see it.

Overall the comments seemed to be pretty positive and people liked the colour consistency which went throughout all three of the pages, and also where I had positioned my photos on my double page spread and also on my contents page which was influenced by a collage I had seen a few months ago in Dulwich picture gallery. Improvements which were suggested where to re-position my coverlines and maybe add something else as it seemed to simple and empty which I would agree with. One person also suggested that I included more of a column structure to my article on the double page spread, all of which are practical and fair comments which I would agree with.

Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?