Agenda Setting Theory

Agenda Setting Theory 

This particular theory was suggested by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in 1972. It was originally suggested that the content that is presented in the media created a general public idea, in the sense that they can influence what to think, but they may also tell you what to think about. Within particular news displays, by editors and broadcasters, individuals can play an important part in shaping the view given to certain events in reality. Is often used in political ads, campaigns and news.

There are in fact two levels of the agenda setting theory:

- First Level:

The idea that the media uses objects or issues to influence the people what people should think about and this is mostly studied by researchers, 

-Second level:

Media attempts to depict focuses on the certain characters in society and influence peoples view about them.

Research into Blumhouse productions

Blumhouse Productions

Blumhouse productions is an American television and film company, which was founded by Jason Blum. Blumhouse Productions are the known producers of Paranormal activity, Split, Get Out and insidious. We had to decide if we wanted to use Blumhouse Productions or Twisted Research. As we wanted out opening to maintain professionalism and be a success, we based success off of revenue as we thought that a successful film would gross more. On a whole, Twisted Pictures averaged a higher revenue which is one of the reasons we prefer it to Blumhouse. Also, because our film opening is an independent, low budget project, we could like as much assistance in terms of production as we can get.
However, Blumhouse Productions are known for their extremely popular but low budget films. As mentioned previously Get Out and Split being the most recently popular ones. Both films received high ratings for the intensity but intellectual plot lines.


Get out revenued over 30 million dollars in its first weekend alone on only a 4 million dollar budget. This shows the company's strength and ability in terms of producing films. However, as a group we decided that Blumhouse had great strength in psychological horrors, but Twisted Pictures seemed to be the stronger company in terms of our supernatural sub-genre. Therefore, after much thought we decided that it was best to go with the company that would be more suited to us, which was Twisted Pictures.

-Tibet Keskin

Final Piece- The Crypt

The Crypt

Shown below is our final piece. We were all very pleased with the final product and believed that we had achieved what we had planned to and more.

In terms of the process, we believe that our biggest struggle was creating a plot with smooth continuity that would make sense to the audience. It took us around four drafts to finalise our ideas and begin fully editing the opening. Another obstacle of ours, was the flashback. Primarily, we struggled to make the flashback look obvious to the audience without it seeming too exaggerated. So we played around with many effects and transitions to make sure we found the perfect one to portray our flashbacks. A final important obstacle of ours was music, we ended up having to layer multiple sounds to create our final piece, including low toned music, whispers, rain drops and tension building music. This is because our initial music was almost perfect, however, we all believed it didn't have enough tension or trepidation behind it, so we had to layer numerous sounds to create our desired effect.

Despite our obstacles however, we were very pleased with our improvements in our skills in Final Cut Pro and how the overall opening turned out! And we are looking forward to what we can learn, improve and create next!

-Caera Mendez

Uses and Gratifications Theory

Uses and Gratifications Theory 

The uses and gratifications theory is the study of the way the general public consume and react to media. It states that "consumers use the media to satisfy specific needs or desires." Meaning that many people will use social media, such as Twitter, to seek out entertainment along with the finding of information and to communicate with those who have also watched the programme, for example. Or alternatively, to show expression and opinions of a programme. The use of the social media after watching a programme or film, determines the reaction to the media and determine the way it is used.

A typical study of uses and gratifications explores the reasoning behind media consumption coupled with the consequence associated with it. For example, a strong example to use is the use of Twitter during the Britain's Got Talent live final. Many will often tweet their thoughts on each act and interact with others, doing the same thing. It has been identified that this media consumption is done for many purposes, including, relaxation, social communication and entertainment.

-Caera Mendez

Preliminary Story board

Storyboard for the Preliminary Task

Before creating our preliminary task, I decided to draw out a basic storyboard with sketches and notes to mark out our shots, ensure we include a match-on-action shot, dialogue, the 180 degree rule and a shot-reverse-shot.

Storyboard

Storyboarding our Final Piece

Before starting our final film opening, we decided that we wanted to create a brief storyboard of our plot and camera framing.

I made a template using a computer and hand drew a series of images that we wanted to replicate in our film opening. I also listed the actions and camera techniques used alongside the drawings.

Character Costume Deconstruction

Freddy Krueger - Deconstruction

Make up:

As seen in the photo the SFX make up and mask is one of the most distinctive things about the character.

It is clear from this image that both masking and SFX have been used to enhance fear in the audience and create realism that he was actually burnt in a fire. 

The use of the fake teeth helps to accentuate the rotten look he implies, however, it also helps to show that he is still human and still withholds human features, so makes it more scary for the audience as it creates realism.

However, the obvious reasoning behind the mask, is to show that he has been burnt in a fire and make the storyline seem as believable to the audience as possible. 

Clothing:

In terms of clothing, Freddy Krueger is always framed wearing the same clothes; the stripy jumper and dark trousers/jeans. This allows him to be distinguishable from others for the audience, but also helps him stand out easily as the colours of his top, do contrast to create quite a bright look.

Also, because the predominant colour is red, this signifies blood, danger and along with the black and dark colours, death. This assists in the foreshadowing of the character and his role in the film, although it may be seen as pretty obvious from the onset!

The hat, is to presumably to help cover his scaring on his head, and make it a little more watchable for the audience. But it could also accentuate his human features, and how he went from being a normal living man to a murderer, creating more fear and weariness among the audience.

The hat also often shadows half his face, creating low key lighting focusing on his face. This creates an ominous effect and makes him more fearful to the audience as they can not see directly what he is. 

Hand:

Finally, the hand is one of the most important aspects of the character of Freddy Krueger in all films. The four knives which are attached to a plastic glove, is definitely what completes Freddy Krueger's frightening image. It creates the feeling of brutality and fear among the audience, as they begin to see no one is spared. 

The discolouredness of the glove, also suggests it has been used plentiful times giving the impression that he has killed many.

Also, the concept of the knives replacing the nails creates him to be much more powerful and able than the average human being and almost unbeatable. 

Finally, it is a distinctive prop of the character, so assists to keep the brutal reputation of Freddy Krueger going.

-Tibet Keskin