Practical Prodution Evaulation

My Practical Production evaluation- ‘pulse of darkness’

My practical production is consisting of four group members in which we all worked together to produce a film trailer entitled “Pulse of Darkness”. Our trailer embodies a horror genre which features a disillusioned female protagonist who murders innocent victims-purely for her own entertainment in her mental state of mind. From the use of ‘darkness’ being present in the title on a conational level it emphasizes negative occurrences which mostly takes place in the dark, which enforces the creepy environment strongly associated. The use of ‘pulse’ indicates the emotional anxiety which will result in the victim’s heart beat increasing from feelings of tension experienced. This as a result would force the viewer to identify with the victim’s tense anxiety created as they are witnessing the pain.

To ensure every group member had an active role during production, we all cooperated and worked together which resulted in experience gained by everyone involved. However, in terms of editing the production my group were assigned a lap top to edit, in which on countless occasions we experienced technical problems as it kept freezing, however everyone was motivated and therefore worked hard together to ensure the completion of editing.

After studying “Triumph of the Will”in Module Two, the use of parallel music present which as a result proved effective and complimented the action occurring. This influenced our decisions to use a parallel soundtrack, which is to coincide with the creepy atmosphere created. This is easily identified throughout the trailer in shots depicting horror and tense emotion, in which the music proves eerie and creates suspense. We also used point of view shots which are also prominent in “Triumph of the Will” in the hope that the audience can identify with the victim and as a result adopt the tense, scared emotions that the victim embodies.

Horror conventions were followed, we ensured a variety of close ups were used of the victim to illustrate her fearful facial expressions, this shot was used to capture the blood stained knife to invoke fear from the audience as that naturally would raise alarm and create enigma as a cut occurred thereafter. Films such as “Halloween”, “Silence of the lambs” and “Saw”. These three successful horror films all influenced and instigated relevant ideas for our linear narrative. Our trailer conformed to Propp’s theory from the use to include a hero and a villain which was made aware and therefore prominent in the running scenes illustrating the strong effort experienced by the victim to escape the villain. This was further portrayed in the close up of the victim screaming “help!”.

There were many strengths present, they are existent in the mise en scene which was present. It was accurate as it complimented the horror genre and complimented the horror genre and suited the codes and conventions which are actively present in horror films. This was easily identified from the blood stained knife- an icon greatly used by the villain to inflict pain in the history of horror films, also the blood stained victim, which created the illusion she was really injured. This resulted in the trailer proving realistic. Another strength, is the fact that we chose to include a female to represent the villain, as in most horror films, the male tends to adopt this role. Therefore, it obliterates stereotypes surrounding females and challenges the patriarchal ideology. A last strength was the villian’s face being obscured in her hood, which created enigma, which conformed to Barthe’s theory of enigma. This would appeal to the target audience as their perceptions of a horror film are being satisfied as they are engaged in the sinister shots.

There were however weaknesses in our production, in the form of the setting which was unoriginal, as many horror films have located in a house therefore reduced the feeling of authenticity. We should have located in an original setting to enforce authenticity, which therefore would have proved interesting.

The two suitable institutions for our trailer will be Miramax and Metro Goldwyn Mayer. This is due to the fact that they are both two successful important studios in which they have produced a range of successful films. Miramax is well known to have distributed flourishing horror films such as “Dracula 3” (2005) “Hellraiser”, (2005) and “Scary Movie 4”. (2006) Metro Goldwyn Mayer distributed many thriving popular films such as “Hannibal”, (2001) “Amityville” (2005) “The Brother’s Grimm” (2005) and “The Vampire Hunter” (2001) such films helped in providing us to use various devices in our trailer, some of which are included in the films stated, such as pain, suffering, torture and blood being an iconic symbol.

Therefore, “Pulse of Darkness” aims to fulfill its aim to entertain its primary target audience in the form of evoking fear and enigma throughout the montage sequence. Working together as a group ensured the success of the trailer. It proved enjoyable, however stressful at times, as we has to be dedicated to complete the editing. It we had the opportunity to produce another horror trailer or film, we would relocate to somewhere authentic and unique to create realism, we would also use a voice over which was not present in our trailer, this would therefore prove more realistic as it would add to the audience being engaged and conformed to trailer conventions.

By Valeria