Victim names - research

Names of victims

• We want the names of the films victims to be memorable yet meaningful. We want the names to suit each characters personality and background. Here are names and their meanings that we have researched that would be useful and effective in our film.

Female

1. Iris (Isis) – meaning colourful, rainbows, flowers. This is a good name to use for a victim who is very young and shy yet sneaky with cunning plans to contrast her name.
2. Eris – meaning goddess of discord and destruction.
3.  Enya – meaning fire.
4.  Mackenzie – meaning fire-born.
5. Louise – meaning fame and war. This would be great to show another personality in the film who wants to put on a good show for the cameras by killing others in an entertaining way.
6. Maude/Mattie – meaning powerful battler. This would be good to show a feisty and blood-curdling personality.
7. Della – meaning noble.
8. Flora – meaning flower. Shows a vulnerable, easily-broken personality.
9. Persephone – meaning ‘murder’ and ‘to destroy’.
10. Desdemona – meaning ‘of the devil’.
11. Nyla – meaning the winner. This would be ideal if we had a female win the competition.

Male

1. Mallory – meaning ‘unfortunate’. This negative name can be used for someone of any personality (weak or strong).
2. Daray – meaning ‘dark’.
3. Drake – meaning ‘dragon’.
4. Than – meaning ‘death’. This could be used to insinuate death of himself or that he wants death of others to occur.
5. Hannibal – already having a negative meaning from the notorious killer and cannibal, ‘Hannibal Lector’. Striving for kill.
6. Damien – meaning the name of the devil.
7. Hades – meaning king of the dead.
8. Victor – meaning victory, winner. This would be ideal if we had a male win the competition.
9. Dante - meaning 'enduring'.

Derren Brown: The Game Show - 3 scene deconstruction

Scene 1 - Montage of clips about the programme

Camera Angles

• Hidden cameras looking down (high angle shot) onto the main victim of the ‘game show’ shows how the camera and who’s behind the camera (the audience and production team) are more dominant and have overall control and authority over this man (the victim).

•      Close up shots of Derren Brown telling the audience exactly what, how and why he is taking out this experiment and what it would imply are used. This gives the audience a clear idea of what they are watching and how they are involved. 

    Mise en Scene

•             Every individual in the audience is wearing a
  white mask covering their faces. This adds to what Derren Brown suggested as ‘faceless’ and ‘anonymous’. It could also suggest that they are hiding their identity with a persona that they want to use but don’t want to be known as or get caught being.
•       The white masks have connotations of angelic
  and innocence which juxtaposes the real reason they are wearing them (to hide their negative personalities).
•             The black and blue colour scheme lighting has connotations of evil and danger whilst also giving a sense of mystery/enigma which relates to the idea of the ‘inner evil’ in every individual whilst asking the question of what negative extremes can a person lead to if they were ever in this situation.

     Sound

•      Non-diegetic dialogue from Derren Brown telling the viewers, ‘Tonight’s experiment is about deindividuation, which is what happens when people become anonymous members of a crowd which allows them to behave in a way that goes against their moral code. It’s a large part of what turns normal people into internet bullies, rioters, football hooligans, and encourages TV reality show audiences to victimise contestants’.
•       This statement would relate to our film as the audience of the reality show ‘Akeldama’ in our film. There would be a wide range of audience ages in the crowd watching the ‘death’ competition who play a large part in the production and workings of the competition. They decide what weapons and material go into the field where the ‘victims’ have to fight.
•       While dialogue is heard, a subliminal music soundtrack of violins and string instruments are played which have a sympathetic feel to it whilst adding to the sense of drama and enigma.  

    Editing

•      Referring to a clip of another reality TV programme (Big Brother), where a contestant was voted out and ‘booed’ by the audience which states that the audience can automatically be judgemental and demanding of a certain thing/person. This would relate greatly to our film in making the audience the ‘controller’ of the competition and the victims.
•       The audience are also holding up signs with words on them to show how they feel and want to get their message across to the ‘victim’ and other members of the audience. 

•      A focal shot which highlights the main victim
  from the rest of the scenery is used to give a
  clear identity of the man the audience is in
  control of. The editing technique draws him out from the rest of the background and
  automatically makes him centre of attention and the one to focus on. This would be ideal for our film to let the audience in the film know who they are voting and in control of themselves. 

     Scene 2 - Looking through victim's house live on TV

     Camera Angles

•      A mid shot which shows Derren looking at the screen where the producer scavenges through the victim’s laundry. This notifies the audience that the people in the studio are watching the same thing as the audience at home.
•       This shot also shows how the use of cameras and the media can be a direct and vast source to share a piece of information to millions of others instantly which portrays the media as a very powerful source.

    Mise en scene

•       Derren Brown (the ‘host’ of the game show) is dressed in a black, formal suit which suggests that he is serious and
  business-like. This contrasts from the ‘victims’ and ‘audiences’ clothes of normal, casual clothing.
•       It suggests that he has a dominant and important role in the TV show in which he is in control of both the victim and the
  audience. 

     Sound

•      Diegetic dialogue from Derren Brown in the studio turns into non-diegetic when playing a live hidden camera video of the main victim while saying ‘Now, Chris has no idea that he is the star of my show or that everything that happens tonight is being filmed on hidden cameras. We have also got a camera and a producer in his flat’.
•       This statement by Derren Brown gives the impression of ‘invasion of privacy’ of the victim being watched while the producer scavenges around the victims home looking for what would give ideas on the victims personality for example, in his laundry basket, on his computer and even smashing the victims TV for the audiences entertainment while cheers and claps are heard from the audience. 

     Editing

•     The camera constantly cross cuts from the studio and the audiences reactions to the filming of the producer looking through the ‘victims’ house. 
•      Tracking shot is used to follow the producer scavenging around the victim’s house looking for things while the audience ‘follows’. It is like a documentary, informing the audience all about this victim.
•      This shot is also in hand held which also adds to the effect of someone (the audience) following him themselves. This gives a sense of realism.
•      This shot also shows how the use of cameras and the media can be a direct and vast source to share a piece of information to millions of others instantly which portrays the media as a very powerful source.

      Scene 3- Audience power whilst voting

      Camera Angles

•      This mid shot shows Derren Brown and a
  screen with the word ‘Results’ on it in the background. This is the outcome of the audience’s voting of what should happen out of two possible solutions (one good response and one bad response). The audience chose the negative choice every time as they thought it was more entertaining.
•       In our film, the audience would vote for ideas to be put into the competition the audience choosing what 'obstacles' and 'weapons' that can be used in the ''competition''. The audience would also have control over the victim’s fate.

• 
  
•       The high angle shot of an individual in the audience shows that he is looking down at the remote control where he chooses one option: A or B. This gives the audience at home a clear idea of how the voting system works while giving a sense of realism. 

      Mise en scene

·    The screen shows a giant image of a mask which reminds the audience in the studio
and the audience at home that the mask is the main ‘logo’ and image of the whole programme. It suggests that everyone has the potential to be a different person and hide their identities.

·    The colour surrounding the mask on the screen is mostly red. Red has connotations of power, dominance, danger and destruction which is exactly what is portrayed by the audience in the programme. Having the red being surrounding the mask shows that the item that covers identity (for example, this could insinuate internet bullies behind a computer screen) is a personal danger to every individual.

·    The strobe lighting adds to the tension and serious of the programme. 

     Sound

•      A non-diegetic voiceover is heard announcing what the question is and the possible answers that the audience can choose from. As this question is asked, the audience use their remote controls to select the answer they want. The voice over adds to the whole ‘game show’ genre.
•       Diegetic dialogue from Derren Brown says ‘Audience, It’s time for you to take control so cast your votes now’. This suggests that even though the audience are the ones making the decision, Derren Brown is the one that has higher authority over them, telling them what to do and when.
•       Diegetic dialogue is heard from Derren Brown announcing that ‘60% of you chose shoplifting as your answer’.
•       As this is announced, a loud, diegetic chorus of ‘cheers’ and ‘claps’ are heard from the audience as they are happy with the result. While this is heard, I noticed that the lighting on the audience turned from blue to red which connotes power and evil.
•       As the audience is casting their votes, an intense, countdown, drum roll sort of tune is played in the background which adds to the ‘game show’ genre. 

    Editing

•     This shot shows the use of CGI in which a message box is shown to include results from the voting in which individuals in the audience had to chose what happens to the ‘victim’ which, in one question, asked ‘What do you want to happen to the man when he enters the shop’. The outcome of this was that the majority of the audience chose B – Framed for Shoplifting. This is the negative answer and adds to the fact that the audience does have overall power and control over what happens to the victim.
•       The use of the CGI allows the audience at home to get a clearer, visual idea of the results and how they turned out. 

Hotel Rwanda (2004) Poster

Hotel Rwanda

Poster deconstruction

Graphic Design

The typography is effective with the red and black coloured font representing and connoting the blood spilt and the fallen in the Rwandan massacre. The blocky font keeps the serious tone within the poster, as it is based on true events.

The title is kept out of the centre triangle of the poster to draw the viewer’s eyes to it and make them spend longer taking in the information of the poster.  The tag line and image of the main character are also kept out of this central triangle for this same reason. 

The main image is of a man with some other characters below. The image of him is largest to highlight to the viewer that he is the main character.  The characters below are of other key characters within the film. The colouring at bottom of this central image is the colouring of the Rwandan flag.

Faded behind the image of these characters you can see the image of a large crowd of people, who the audience will assume is linked to the silhouette in the lower sector of the poster. This image shows the viewer that there was a large scale disaster in the film and so encourages them to watch.

The silhouette of the hands is very effective as it represents the Rwandans reaching out for help from the people in the central image and shows the desperation that they all felt. This is a very creative and emotive image for the audience, and it shows them that the story is a “heart wrencher.”

The caption “When the world closed its eyes, he opened his arms” really brings the viewer into the story as they see this man as a hero figure and they can clearly see that he is a kind, generous person that they can relate to. 

Setting

The Background image which fills the left and right thirds of the poster is the shot of the sky at sunset. From these warm colours of pink and orange, it both has links with Africa, as well as indicating the deaths suffered due to the red tinting of the sky. This has connotations of suffering and loss with reference to the fields of red poppies in WW1 and the bible reference of water turning red with blood with the seven angels. These are all very emotive references and so show the audience the tragedy that is shown in the film

The Blair Witch Project (1999) Poster

The Blair Witch Project

Poster Analysis

Graphic design

• The poster relies on very traditional ways of evoking fear from the viewer, linking back to childhood fears such as the darkness, the darker side of fairy stories and the image of the girls face lit from below similar to when scary stories are told when you are young, a torch was held below the narrators face to light it from below.  Using these techniques in a serious way makes this poster extremely effective in being frightening for the audience. 

• The colour scheme of this post is predominantly black, showing that the film has a very dark tone, but also connotes fear and creates an enigma as there is limited visibility in the setting.  The darkness of the background and high contrast also helps to highlight the key features of the poster either in red or white. This colour scheme follows the conventions of supernatural horror films and gives a real sense of danger.

• Title is at bottom because keeping main aspects of the poster out of the central triangle to make the viewer look for longer as they have to scan the poster to take the information in. The image of the girls face and the detail of the woods is also positioned in the upper and lower sections for the same reason.

• The text “In October...” is all that is left in the centre triangle of the poster as it keeps it away from the title and the film information to make it seem more real, and this realism is a main intention of the film.

• Other main features on the poster are highlighted in red, such as the symbol which has links to witchcraft and voodoo. The fact that this symbol is so unusual creates and enigma for the audience making it frightening. The red colour of the Blair Witch symbol has connotations with danger, blood and death and shows that it is linked to the danger within the film.

• The image of the girl in this poster is taken with a point of view camera at a low angle, extreme close up of her eyes, which hides most of her facial features adding to the enigma. The girl is looking into the camera showing that it is her point of address. This shows the audience that the style of the film is hand held which was a revolution at the time that the film was first released, and so was a big selling point for the film which is why it is a huge feature in the poster. Her face is predominantly shadowed showing she is in the dark and it also symbolises how this character is surrounded by danger and engulfed by fear. In this image the girl’s eyes are shown quite clearly and this emphasises the fear she is feeling and as it is personal address to the audience it brings them into this sense of fear and desperation that is clear from her expression

Setting

• In the upper sector of the poster, you can see a silhouette style tree outline, clearly indicating to the audience where the film is set in the woods, a stereotypical setting for horror stories, linking all the way back to fairy tales such red riding hood and Hansel and Gretel, where the innocent victims are taking into this territory which is where the danger is.  The woods used as a setting has connotations of darkness, isolation and danger and this is reflected in the dark tone of this image used in the background of the poster.

Hotel Rwanda (2004) Trailer

Hotel Rwanda

Trailer deconstruction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYwuXvA589A

The Trailer opens with the United Artists logo, advertising the film using this established production company. This is then followed by a shot showing that it is an award winning film, which will again interest the audience, as they will know that they are going to watch a high quality film.

Beginning alongside these shots is a non-diegetic soundtrack, which is traditional to the country that the film is set in. This shows the audience that the film has a strong cultural context which is an effective unique selling point for the film.

The next shot is an establishing shot of a landscape in Rwanda with the caption Rwanda, 1994, setting the scene and date for the audience so that they understand what they are watching.

Rom here, non-diegetic narration is introduced by the main character.  This is used to begin the story that is told in this film and give the audience a brief overview of the plot. 

With this narration there is a mid shot of the main character Paul. These are used together so that the audience links the two together.  He is the first person shown in the trailer and so is quite clearly the main character within the film. He introduces himself and explains that he is the house manager of a luxury hotel in Rwanda.

This is followed by some establishing shots of the hotel which gives the audience a deeper sense of the setting and also begins to build a relatively peaceful atmosphere, for example showing hotel guests on sun loungers around a swimming pool, creating equilibrium.  This continues as he introduces his family and we see his wife and children making the audience relate to him.

The tone is then drastically changed as he says “Until the day everything changed” and the non diegetic soundtrack also changes tone with much bassier notes on a minor scale foreboding events ahead and creating tension for the audience. 

 

We then see shots of riots and military action taking place showing that there has been a drastic change in events. The shot of the riot shows many men holding banners, and you can see flashes of red throughout the shot showing there is danger. The military presence emphasizes this to the audience.

 

We are then presented with a text screen which tells the audience that the film was based on a true story. This draws them in as they realise that they can relate to the people in the film because they really existed, plus there is more frightening when a story is true and so more entertaining and henceforth more appealing to the audience.

Pieces of diegetic dialogue are used throughout the trailer to explain to the viewer what they are watching for example Paul says “They are killing everyone” which is a basic narational tool and is used effectively in this trailer.

Paul then explains that the UN are in the area which gives hope to the audience as they can see from the long shot of the large UN trucks that they have quite a lot of power and will be able to offer protection to Paul and his family who the audience have already made a link with from previous shots in the trailer. However this hope that has been given to the audience is quickly taken away as the next shot shows the UN captain explaining that the UN are not allowed to intervene as they are “Peace keepers” not “peace makers.” This will confuse the audience and frustrate them so they are beginning to develop an opinion on the events of the film which is one of the main intentions of Hotel Rwanda – to raise awareness. 

There is also narration here from an external actor. He says “when a country descended into madness,” continuing to build the tension and tell the story of the Rwanda massacres effectively to the audience.

There is then a mid shot of an English woman explaining “they are killing Tutsi children to wipe out the next generation,” The fact that she is English makes the story even more relatable to the western viewers of this film as she is clearly heavily involved and also she brings to the attention of the audience that both children are being killed and a genocide is occurring. This is all very emotionally and thought provoking for the audience.

The external actor then narrates that “The world turned its back.” - This a key feature that we want to take from this film is the fact that the Rwandan people suffered in such a terrible way, the rest of the world knew but did nothing to help. – Paul then asks “How can they not intervene, hundreds of thousands are dying” which shows the barbarity of the reaction.

 

This is replied to by a documentary camera man working in the area by explaining to Paul that “If people see this they will think, oh my god that’s horrible, then they’ll go on eating their dinners,” which shows that as a human race we do not fight for that which doesn’t bother us and this links into our social context.

 

After this the audience are subjected to feel the hopelessness that the characters in the film feel as the UN captain tells Paul that no one is coming to help or to stop the slaughter.  This creates a very isolated and fearful atmosphere as it becomes apparent that Paul is the only person willing to help his people.

A voice over of Paul’s speech confirms this as he states “We have been abandoned” and “we can only save ourselves. 

There is a shot of Paul standing in front of the people he has been protecting in his hotel as they shelter from the rain and it shows that he is leading them, giving connotations of a revolution. Paul stands out in the rain in this shot which emphasises his leadership within the film and causes the audience to respect him as a person.

Then there are several shots of the struggle faced as well as shots showing the hope that Paul created in this situation such as this close up of a mother and her child holding hands. This gives the audience a very strong idea of the atmosphere faced in their situation and brings them into the realism of it, but doesn’t give away the conclusion of what happened to Paul, his family and the people he cared for which is an effective way to end the trailer to encourage people to go and see or purchase the film.

Finally the title screen is shown.  The Typography is in bold gold colours with capital letters and a blocky font to show the strong impacts the events of the film had and the importance of this and the lessons that need to be learnt from this. The cold colour and the backlight behind the title shows the strength that was shown by the main characters in the film and the safety and refuge that the hotel provided. This is followed by a shot of when the film is being released and their web page to inform the audience about the film and how they can see it.