Ashley Hartley Santa Claws Evaluation

The project I made was called Santa Claws; I worked with Amy and Shamyla. The contributions that I made to the movie were that I acted as the killer Santa/slasher and also when Amy was not here I also edited the sequence. The genre of my film is a horror; I have shown this by using different conventions such as low key lighting to create a sense of evil and mystery, I also used the use of shadows as well as short cuts to show the victims and targets also adding the music which is slow and suits the genre of the movie sequence. It was vital that I used the typical elements because it creates the mood and sense of the sequence. I think it is vital to do something new with the genre because it will add to the mood of the sequence. I think that my innovations were likely to prove successful because the feed back that I was given was very positive. My choices that I had made within my sequence worked for my audience because for example someone said “The Santa is a killer, it was clear by the focus on him and how he was dressed like Santa with a knife and scissors and the Christmas tree had fallen over with the knife in it”.

I think my sequence fulfils the requirements of an opening sequence because it contains the information that the viewers need to know such as the director, who the actors are and also the title of the film, I also think that it fulfils the requirements of the genre that I have assigned it to because it creates enigmas as well as not showing to much of the storyline to the viewers.

I have represented criminals within my sequence, I did this by using different things such as the clothing I wore and the lighting I used. I used a typical Santa suit and then added dirt to it to make it look like it has been worn and used before. The appearance of the main character was that he looked liked a traditional Santa Claus but kept his face in the shadows to create a sense of mystery and to create enigmas for the audience, the dark shadows shows that the criminal has a dark side to him, there is no sound, apart from the music, within my sequence because I wanted to create the idea that the killer is alone. I think that I have mixed the typical stereotypes of criminals, in this case murders, with the obsession of getting their targets and mixed it with the dressing up within the costume.

Certain film companies may want to back my product such as Lions Gate because they have made similar products before such as the Saw series and also their newest one My Bloody Valentine which both have a reputation for being horror movies. I also think that my product will be backed because it is similar to the products that Lions Gate makes in the way that it is made for example the other Lions Gate films create enigmas within their opening sequences as well as giving the information that the viewer needs to know.

The age groups that I am targeting are adults in the range of 18-25 year olds; I am targeting this age range as this is the primal age group that watches these kinds of horror movies as these movies gives the thrill seekers a rush of adrenaline in the suspense of the movie. The audience that I have chosen is a potentially large audience and some of them keep seeing horror movies because that is what they like. They are the right age group to choose because they have a large potential of seeing horror movies as they have always been more popular within the younger generations.

The images are in chronological order first we see the pictures of the victims it then goes onto the future victim which it seems like he has been following her for some time as there are many photos of the young woman; it goes through who the murderer has killed and who has been targeted. I have inserted many enigmas into my movie sequence for example the use of the killer with his back to the audience creates some enigmas such as ‘who could the killer be?’ and also ‘Why is he doing it?’ these main enigma is carried on throughout the sequence, this makes the audience wonder who the killer could be and therefore makes them watch further into the film until the question is answered. I created binary opposites by using a typical criminal in which he is not well known and hides his face to stop being found out and crossed it with Santa Claus; this makes everyone think of Santa as a kind gentle person which is the complete opposite to the criminal. I have built up tension and suspense by showing the criminal putting on his Santa costume one piece at a time this shows that he is getting ready to go out, the use of music also helped in creating tension.

I have learnt that using the internet is a good source from getting numerous amounts of information to further develop my ideas for the film, the blog that we used also helped to keep everything in order so when I came in to lesson I knew where I was up to and what needed to be done. The software that I used allowed me to do many things such as extract the audio within my clips and also allowed me to put different transitions within my clips Although I did find some limitations through the software that I used to edit the clips for example the titles that I had to choose from were limited. Some of the clips that I shot needed to be done because some of them where not close to the actor and reveled more then we wanted the audience to see

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have learnt a lot, for example where the transitions go in-between clips and what effect each one has towards the audience, the use of different shots such as close-ups and long shots have a dramatic effect on the scene and also the music that you choose is crucial to the success of setting the mood for the whole scene. I now know when to cut the clips so that it shows the right things and has an effect within the scene I also know that the different lighting that I use has an impact on how the audience view the character and the different meanings of using full lighting or shadows for example when the light goes out at the end it could symbolize many things for example; the killer has killed someone or he is going out of the room to his next victim.

In conclusion I think that my product has everything in it that it needs to be a successful horror film. I think that there are many good points to my product some include; the sequence creates enigmas such as who is the killer? And the use of the music adds to the mysterious side of the product. Although there are just one or two weaknesses within my final product which include when Santa Claus is putting his jacket on you can see the shirt that he has on underneath. But apart from them few errors I feel that the project went smoothly and was a good movie.

by Ashley Hartley